Discovery of an endemic area of Gnathostoma turgidum infection among opossums, Didelphis virginiana, in Mexico.

Gnathostomosis, caused by Gnathostoma binucleatum, is a serious public health issue in Mexico. Although 2 other Gnathostoma spp., G.

Does chemotherapy increase morbidity and mortality after pneumonectomy?

Background: The impact of chemotherapy on postoperative complications after pneumonectomy remains unclear, and the procedure is often considered as potentially dangerous.

Methods: This retrospective review of prospectively collected data included 269 patients operated from January 1, 1998 through December 31, 2007. Group 1 included patients those who received preoperative chemotherapy (PCT) and pneumonectomy (54 patients, 20%), and group 2 included patients who underwent pneumonectomy alone (215 patients, 80%).

Measurement of liver stiffness with two imaging techniques: magnetic resonance elastography and ultrasound elastometry.

Purpose: To cross-validate the magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) technique with a clinical device, based on an ultrasound elastometry system called Fibroscan.

Materials And Methods: Ten healthy subjects underwent an MRE and a Fibroscan test. The MRE technique used a round pneumatic driver at 60 Hz to generate shear waves inside the liver.

The alpha-L-Rhamnose recognizing lectin site of human dermal fibroblasts functions as a signal transducer: modulation of Ca2+ fluxes and gene expression.

An alpha-l-Rhamnose specific lectin site was described on human skin keratinocytes and fibrobasts. The addition of Rhamnose-rich oligo- and polysaccharides (RROPs) to fibroblasts has been shown to stimulate cell proliferation and increase extracellular matrix biosynthesis, suggesting that this lectin site functions as a "true" receptor transmitting messages to the cell interior. It was confirmed here that addition of the Rhamnose-rich polysaccharide, RROP-1, to normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) and human endothelial cells produced a dose-dependent stimulation of the calcium-signaling pathway, inducing fast and transient increases in Ca2+ influx and intracellular free Ca2+ level.

Increased elastase and cathepsin G activity in activated lymphocytes from aged patients: role of denutrition and dementia.

Elastase and cathepsin G activities in cell-lysates and in culture supernates of activated human lymphocytes (incubated for 96 h in the presence of 5 microg/ml of phytohemagglutinin with/without 2 microg/ml of elastin peptides) of 25 old, hospitalized patients (average age: 88.48+/-6.81 years), suffering from vascular-type dementia or denutrition were examined, in comparison with samples of 11 young, healthy donors.

Cardiovascular determinants of plasma fibronectin in an elderly population: the EVA study.

Plasma fibronectin was determined in 1262 individuals (742 females, 520 males) aged 59-71 years at the beginning of an epidemiological study on vascular aging (the EVA study) in Nantes, western France. The average values (62.88+/-20.

Immunolocalization of Taenia solium gap junction innexins.

In previous studies, ultrastructural observations revealed a large number of gap junctions (GJs) in the neck and immature proglottid tissues of Taenia solium tapeworms. In these helminths, cytoplasmic glycogen sacs are connected by numerous discrete GJs to other cells throughout the maturing strobilar tissue. Discontinuous sucrose gradients were used to purify membrane fractions containing GJs, which were identified by ultrastructural analysis.

A chalcone synthase-like gene is highly expressed in the tapetum of both wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and triticale (xTriticosecale Wittmack).

A novel anther-specific chalcone synthase-like gene, TaCHSL1, was isolated and characterized. The TaCHSL1 transcript was detected only within the tapetum during the "free" and early vacuolated microspore stages in both wheat and triticale. Sequence analysis indicated that the 41.

Lipid metabolism and antioxidant status in sucrose vs. potato-fed rats.

Objective: Consumption of high levels of simple carbohydrates is associated with several metabolic disorders in humans and in laboratory animals, including symptoms of an early stage of metabolic syndrome (syndrome X). This disorder has several cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertriglyceridemia, and is associated with an increase in oxidative stress. In contrast to sucrose, potato, a source of complex carbohydrates and antioxidant micronutrients, was thought to improve lipid metabolism and antioxidant protection.

Evagination and infectivity of Taenia crassiceps cysticerci in experimental animals.

Cysticerci of Taenia crassiceps reproduce asexually by exogenous budding in the rodent intermediate host, and can experimentally develop to the adult stage within the small intestine of golden hamsters. In the present study, we report the loss of cysticercus infectivity for hamsters after maintaining the strain for 4 yr by consecutive peritoneal passage in mice. Larval infectivity was restored after a cysticercus from the WFU strain developed into a gravid tapeworm after being passaged through a dog.

Effect of advanced glycation endproducts on gene expression profiles of human dermal fibroblasts.

The Maillard reaction and its end products, AGE-s (Advanced Glycation End products) are rightly considered as one of the important mechanisms of post-translational tissue modifications with aging. We studied the effect of two AGE-products prepared by the glycation of lysozyme and of BSA, on the expression profile of a large number of genes potentially involved in the above mentioned effects of AGE-s. The two AGE-products were added to human skin fibroblasts and gene expression profiles investigated using microarrays.

Expression of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-beta-Gal) by human skin fibroblasts, effect of advanced glycation end-products and fucose or rhamnose-rich polysaccharides.

Expression by cells of the SA-beta-Gal was shown to be a reliable indicator of the switch mechanism used by cells to enter the senescent phenotype. We used this method in order to explore the variation of SA-beta-Gal-positive cells with passage number and time spent in culture. Both parameters produced an increase of SA-beta-Gal-positive cells.

Collagen biosynthesis in cell culture: comparison of corneal keratocytes and skin fibroblasts. Effect of rhamnose-rich oligo- and polysaccharides.

Corneal keratocytes are often confounded with fibroblasts, although their matrix-synthetic phenotype is quite different as shown by the nature and relative amount of the different collagens and proteoglycans-glycosaminoglycans synthesized. In these experiments, we compared the concentration of collagens excreted in the culture medium by human corneal keratocytes and skin fibroblasts at three consecutives passages. Although the keratocytes excreted less collagen at earlier passages, they approached and reached fibroblasts at later passages.

Rapid increase in human life expectancy: will it soon be limited by the aging of elastin?

The postponement of the most frequent age-related diseases stimulated speculations of the possibility of "dying of old age". The selective decline of individual physiological functions-aging in spare-parts-indicates however the potential limitation of the life-span by the rapid decline of some of the vital parameters. We explored a possibility of such a limitation of maximal life-span by the age-related alteration of elastin, consisting in Ca-accumulation, lipid deposition and elastolytic degradation.

[The importance of the Maillard reaction in ophtalmology].

Non enzymatic glycosylation( glycation) of proteins, described by L. C. Maillard in 1912, results in the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGE-s).

[Demonstration of the cytotoxic effect of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGE-s)].

Advanced Glycation End-products (AGE-s) were shown to exhibit a number of potentially harmful properties in contact with cells and tissues. As their concentrations increases with age, faster even in hyperglycemic individuals, they are considered important for aging- and age-associated pathologies, especially for athero-arteriosclerosis and type II diabetes. We describe here the methods used for the demonstration of a direct cytotoxicity of several AGE-products when added to human skin fibroblast cultures.

[The Maillard reaction: physiopathological role and pharmacological approach].

In this review, we shall first present a short summary of Maillard's carrier, his pioneering work for the introduction of chemistry in medicine and a short description of the reaction he described in 1912 between reducing sugars and amino groups on proteins, part of his PhD thesis. This reaction was rediscovered several decades later by biochemists. Nowadays an increasing number of teams specialise in the study of the Maillard reaction, because of its importance in aging and age-related pathologies.

Effect of cellular aging on collagen biosynthesis: I. Methodological considerations and pharmacological applications.

The study of the age and passage dependent modifications of collagen biosynthesis requires a simple, rapid and reproducible procedure adaptable to serial cell cultures. To make such a method comparable to other methods of collagen determination, we calibrated a colorimetric procedure both by hydroxyproline (HYP) determinations and in terms of collagen concentration. For collagen types I and IV, widely different slopes were obtained with the colorimetric procedure.

Effect of cellular aging on collagen biosynthesis: II. Collagen synthesis and deposition by a human skin fibroblast strain over 25 passages.

Collagen synthesis and accumulation were studied by serial cultures of human dermal fibroblasts. A freshly seeded strain of cells was compared to cryopreserved cells from the same donor. Up to 25 passages there was no clear sign of reaching phase III, the decline of the culture.

Characterization of Taenia solium cysticerci microsomal glutathione S-transferase activity.

Glutathione S-transferase activity has been shown to be associated with the microsomal fraction of Taenia solium. Electron microscopy and subcellular enzyme markers indicate the purity of the microsomal fraction that contains the glutathione S-transferase activity. T.

Development of miniaturized pH biosensors based on electrosynthesized polymer films.

A new type of pH biosensor was developed for biological applications. This biosensor was fabricated using silicon microsystem technology and consists in two platinum microelectrodes. The first microelectrode was coated by an electrosynthesized polymer and acted as the pH sensitive electrode when the second one was coated by a silver layer and was used as the reference electrode.

Microcontact printing of living bacteria arrays with cellular resolution.

Arrays of living bacteria were printed on agarose substrate with cellular resolution using elastomeric stamps with a high aspect ratio generated by reverse in situ lithography (RISL). The printed bacteria reproduced the original stamp patterns with high fidelity and continued growing as in bulk culture. This methodology provides a simple route to any desired bacterial spatial 2D distribution and may be applied to screening as well as to studies of bacteria phenotypic variability, population dynamics, and ecosystem evolution.

Abundances and nocturnal activities of phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in termite hills and animal burrows in Baringo District, Kenya.

The abundance of phlebotomine sandflies was studied in a leishmaniasis endemic area in Baringo District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. This was based on sandfly behaviors at night in their natural habitats of termite hills and animal burrows. Sandflies were collected with an entry-exit trap which has a sieve fixed at the middle to control sandfly movements.

Attitudes and beliefs regarding the role of interventional pain management at the end-of-life among caregivers: a 4-year perspective.

Intrathecal and epidural opioid analgesia represents a major advance in the management of cancer pain, adding a new dimension to opioid therapy by allowing prolonged analgesia through the use of significantly lower doses than those required for systemic administration. However, myths, misconceptions, and apprehension continue to serve as major barriers to effective cancer pain management, and concerns regarding safety, efficacy, and relative ease of utilization still prevail. This, in turn, results in unnecessary suffering, depression, diminished cognitive function, sleep disturbance, functional disability, and compromised quality of life.