Interleukin-1 beta induces the expression and production of stem cell factor by epithelial cells: crucial involvement of the PI-3K/mTOR pathway and HIF-1 transcription complex.

Potential crosslinks between inflammation and leukaemia have been discussed for some time, but experimental evidence to support this dogma is scarce. In particular, it is important to understand the mechanisms responsible for potential upregulation of proto-oncogenic growth factor expressions by inflammatory mediators. Here, we investigated the ability of the highly inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) to induce the production of stem cell factor (SCF), which is a major hematopoietic growth factor that controls the progression of acute myeloid leukaemia upon malignant transformation of haematopoietic myeloid cells.

Tachycardia detection performance of implantable loop recorders: results from a large 'real-life' patient cohort and patients with induced ventricular arrhythmias.

Aims: Implantable loop recorders (ILRs) are valuable for diagnosing arrhythmias. We evaluated tachycardia detection performance of the Medtronic Reveal(®) ILR with FullView™ Software.

Methods And Results: The rate of occurrence of tachycardia detection [supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia (VT), and ventricular fibrillation (VF)] and the percentage of appropriately detected tachycardias were determined from all 2190 ILR patients that transmitted to CareLink over a 4-month period (total follow-up = 135.

Differential control of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 activity during pro-inflammatory reactions of human haematopoietic cells of myeloid lineage.

The biological responses of human haematopoietic cells of myeloid lineage following malignant transformation depends crucially on their adaptation to signalling stress. This adaptation is dependent on the activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) transcription complex, although the mechanisms underlying its control remain unclear. Here, we report that mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, a central regulator of myeloid cell growth and metabolism, is crucially involved in HIF-1α accumulation/HIF-1 activation in human THP-1 myeloid monocytes, LAD2 mast cells and primary basophils in a variety of different settings.

The use of live-animal micro-computed tomography to determine the effect of a novel phospholipase A2 inhibitor on alveolar bone loss in an in vivo mouse model of periodontitis.

Background And Objective: Live-animal micro-computed tomography is a new and promising technique that can be used to quantify changes in bone volume for periodontal disease models. The major aim of this study was to develop the methodology of live-animal micro-computed tomography and to determine the effect of a novel secretory phospholipase A2 inhibitor on alveolar bone loss.

Material And Methods: Periodontitis was induced in mice by oral infection with Porphyromonas gingivalis over a period of 13 wk, and live-animal micro-computed tomography scans were taken at different time-points to determine bone volume changes with disease progression.

Microcephaly-lymphedema-chorioretinal dysplasia: a unique genetic syndrome with variable expression and possible characteristic facial appearance.

We report on a follow-up examination of a family with microcephaly and lymphedema. The finding of chorioretinal dysplasia with variable visual deficit in multiple relatives, which was not previously discovered, supports the concept of microcephaly, lymphedema, and chorioretinopathy as being a single autosomal dominant genetic entity with variable expression. We recommend that fundoscopic examination be performed in all patients with microcephaly with or without lymphedema.