Progressive respiratory failure is the primary cause of death in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It is the final outcome of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), characterized by an initial exacerbated inflammatory response, metabolic derangement and ultimate tissue scarring. A positive balance of cellular energy may result crucial for the recovery of clinical COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Asthma is a chronic airway disease driven by complex genetic-environmental interactions. The role of epigenetic modifications in bronchial epithelial cells (BECs) in asthma is poorly understood.
Methods: We piloted genome-wide profiling of the enhancer-associated histone modification H3K27ac in BECs from people with asthma ( = 4) and healthy controls ( = 3).
Hedgehog (Hh) proteins regulate development and tissue homeostasis, but their role in atopic dermatitis (AD) remains unknown. We found that on induction of mouse AD, Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) expression in skin, and Hh pathway action in skin T cells were increased. Shh signaling reduced AD pathology and the levels of Shh expression determined disease severity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stress related to surgery and critical illness depletes thiamine, essential in energy metabolism, and might result in high blood lactate concentrations and higher mortality.
Objectives: We hypothesised that thiamine supplementation would increase blood concentration of thiamine and reduce blood lactate concentration postoperatively. Moreover, we aimed to identify the prevalence of, and risk factors for, high blood lactate concentrations.
Clinical treatment with glucocorticoids (GC) can be complicated by cytokine-induced glucocorticoid low-responsiveness (GC-resistance, GCR), a condition associated with a homogeneous reduction in the expression of GC-receptor- (GR-) driven anti-inflammatory genes. However, GR level and phosphorylation changes modify the expression of individual GR-responsive genes differently. As sustained IL-1β exposure is key in the pathogenesis of several major diseases with prevalent GCR, we examined GR signaling and the mRNA expression of six GR-driven genes in cells cultured in IL-1β and afterwards challenged with GC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Soc Pathol Exot
October 2012
The genus Echinococcus is a worldwide tapeworm with a two host mammalian cycle. Among the six described species, Echinococcus granulosus (EG) and Echinococcus multilocularis are the most important in respect to their public health importance. Infected human, as an intermediate accidental host, presents single to several cysts, mainly located in the liver.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies here respond to two long-standing questions: Are human "pre/pro-B" CD34(+)CD10(-)CD19(+) and "common lymphoid progenitor (CLP)/early-B" CD34(+)CD10(+)CD19(-) alternate precursors to "pro-B" CD34(+)CD19(+)CD10(+) cells, and do the pro-B cells that arise from these progenitors belong to the same or distinct B-cell development pathways? Using flow cytometry, gene expression profiling, and Ig V(H)-D-J(H) sequencing, we monitor the initial 10 generations of development of sorted cord blood CD34(high)Lineage(-) pluripotential progenitors growing in bone marrow S17 stroma cocultures. We show that (i) multipotent progenitors (CD34(+)CD45RA(+)CD10(-)CD19(-)) directly generate an initial wave of Pax5(+)TdT(-) "unilineage" pre/pro-B cells and a later wave of "multilineage" CLP/early-B cells and (ii) the cells generated in these successive stages act as precursors for distinct pro-B cells through two independent layered pathways. Studies by others have tracked the origin of B-lineage leukemias in elderly mice to the mouse B-1a pre/pro-B lineage, which lacks the TdT activity that diversifies the V(H)-D-J(H) Ig heavy chain joints found in the early-B or B-2 lineage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiposarcoma is an uncommon mediastinal tumor provides limited CT histologic date. The prognosis depends on the histological grade and surgical possibilities. The authors report a case of mediastinal liposarcoma and discuss the correlation between imaging findings, outcome and histological status.
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