Shear Wave Elastography Reveals a High Prevalence of NAFLD-related Fibrosis even in Type 1 Diabetes.

Background: The association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and advanced stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is well known. Some studies indicate a relevant prevalence also in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), but so far there is only limited data.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)-related liver fibrosis in individuals with T1DM and compare to those with type 2 diabetes.

Hypopituitarism in Wilson's disease resolved after copper-chelating therapy.

Summary: Wilson's disease (WD) is a rare disorder of copper metabolism usually presenting with variable liver damage and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Here we report a 39-year-old Taiwanese female with late manifestation of WD presenting with gonadotroph, thyreotroph and corticotroph hypopituitarism. Molecular genetic testing revealed compound heterozygosity for two mutations in exons 12 and 14 (c.

Interobserver agreement of Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TIRADS) and strain elastography for the assessment of thyroid nodules.

Background: Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TIRADS) was developed to improve patient management and cost-effectiveness by avoiding unnecessary fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in patients with thyroid nodules. However, its clinical use is still very limited. Strain elastography (SE) enables the determination of tissue elasticity and has shown promising results for the differentiation of thyroid nodules.

Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for differentiation of thyroid nodules.

Background: Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI)-Imaging is an ultrasound-based elastography method enabling quantitative measurement of tissue stiffness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of ARFI-imaging for differentiation of thyroid nodules and to compare it to the well evaluated qualitative real-time elastography (RTE).

Methods: ARFI-imaging involves the mechanical excitation of tissue using acoustic pulses to generate localized displacements resulting in shear-wave propagation which is tracked using correlation-based methods and recorded in m/s.

Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse-Imaging for the evaluation of the thyroid gland: a limited patient feasibility study.

Purpose: Real-time tissue elastography, a qualitative elastography method, has shown promising results in the diagnostic work up of thyroid nodules. However, to our knowledge no study has evaluated a quantitative elastography method in the thyroid gland. The present study is a feasibility study evaluating Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse-Imaging, a novel quantitative elastography method in the thyroid gland.

Fab antibodies capable of blocking T cells by competitive binding have the identical specificity but a higher affinity to the MHC-peptide-complex than the T cell receptor.

In transplant rejection, graft versus host or autoimmune diseases T cells are mediating the pathophysiological processes. Compared to unspecific pharmacological immune suppression specific inhibition of those T cells, that are involved in the disease, would be an alternative and attractive approach. T cells are activated after their T cell receptor (TCR) recognizes an antigenic peptide displayed by the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).

Differential presentation of tumor antigen-derived epitopes by MHC-class I and antigen-positive tumor cells.

SSX2 is a member of the family of cancer/testis antigens. The SSX2 derived peptide SSX2(103-111) has been shown to be presented to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) by Major-Histocompatibility (MHC) Class-I complexes after endogenous processing, more precisely by the allele HLA-A*0201. The HLA-A*0201- and SSX2-positive melanoma cell line SK-Mel-37 but not Me275 had been shown to elicit reactivity in SSX2(103-111) specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes.

MHC-peptide-specific antibodies reveal inefficient presentation of an HLA-A*0201-restricted, Melan-A-derived peptide after active intracellular processing.

MHC-peptide-specific Fab antibodies binding to HLA-A*0201 complexes presenting the wild-type EAAGIGILTV (EAA) or analogue Melan-A 10-mer ELAGIGILTV (ELA) peptide were generated to study efficacy of peptide processing and presentation. None of the selected Fab antibodies detected the naturally processed EAA/HLA-A*0201 complex on melanoma tumor cells, confirming the known low peptide number on the cell surface. To study the effect of peptide presentation and processing in more detail, genes coding for the A27L-mutated Melan-A protein or the processed ELA peptide were introduced into HLA-A*0201(+) B cells by infection with the respective recombinant vaccinia virus construct producing equimolar amounts of GFP-ubiquitin directly linked to the fragment of interest.