Solitary fibrous tumor of the mesentery: a case report and review of the literature.

Solitary fibrous tumors are rare mesenchymal tumors that typically arise from the pleura and rarely originate from the mesentery. We herein report a case involving a 66-year-old patient who presented with a mass on the left abdomen. This mass had been incidentally noticed 10 years earlier. The patient sometimes experienced abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed an irregular mass, which was resected. A biopsy of the mass revealed that it was a solitary fibrous tumor originating from the mesentery of the small intestine. The patient was discharged 1 week after surgery and had an uneventful clinical course throughout the 4-month postoperative follow-up.

Using a mixture of wastewater and seawater as the growth medium for wastewater treatment and lipid production by the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.

This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum in nutrient removal coupled with biodiesel production using different ratios of mixed municipal wastewater (MW) and seawater (SW) as the growth medium. The results indicated that P. tricornutum exhibited high nutrient removal efficiency with the ratios of MW: SW = 1:1 and MW: SW = 2:1, e.g. 87.7-89.9% for chemical oxygen demand (COD), 82.2-86.7% for total nitrogen (TN), 96.0-97.0% for total phosphorus, and 76.9-84.2% for ammonium (NH3-N). Significantly higher biomass and lipid productivity were obtained with aeration. The highest lipid productivity of P. tricornutum was 54.76 mg/L/day, which was obtained with a two-step cultivation using the ratio of MW: SW = 1:1 by diluting half of the mixture and bubbling with 5% CO2 during the second step. These results suggested that the marine diatom P. tricornutum exhibited great potential for using mixed wastewater for wastewater treatment and biodiesel production.

Arsenic and sulfur dioxide co-exposure induce renal injury via activation of the NF-κB and caspase signaling pathway.

Although emerging evidence suggests positive association of arsenic (As) or sulfur dioxide (SO2) exposure with human diseases, reports concerning the effects of co-exposure of As and SO2 are lacking. Moreover, there is insufficient information in the literature about As and SO2 co-exposure to renal injury. In this study, we focus on the environmental problems of excessive As and SO2 that co-exist in many coal consumption areas. We used both C57BL/6 mice and 293T cells to detect toxicities of As and SO2 exposure alone or in combination. Our results showed that co-exposure significantly increased the hazard compared with exposure to As or SO2 alone. Mouse kidney tissue slices showed that co-exposure caused more severe diffuse sclerosing glomerulonephritis than As and SO2 exposure alone. Meanwhile experiments showed that apoptosis was aggravated by co-exposure of As and SO2 in 293T cells. Because As and SO2 cause cell toxicity through increasing oxidative stress, next we detected ROS and other oxidative stress parameters, and the results showed oxidative stress was increased by co-exposure compared with the other three groups. The expression levels of downstream genes in the NF-κB and caspase pathways were higher in the co-exposure group than in the groups of As or SO2 exposure alone in mice and 293T cells. Based on the above results, co-exposure could induce higher toxicity in vitro and in vivo compared with single exposure to As or SO2, indicating that people living in places that contaminated by As and SO2 may have higher chance to get renal injury.

The expression of molecule CD28 and CD38 on CD4⁺/CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in thymus and spleen elicited by Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice model.

Schistosomiasis caused by human schistosomes such as Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) is considered as an immune-related disease. It was demonstrated that specific cytokine antibodies' response elicited by S. japonicum infection was gradually downregulated with the progress of the disease, resulting in a Th1/Th2 polarization and suppression of immune response. CD28 (cluster of differentiation 28) is one of the proteins expressed on T cells that provide co-stimulatory signals required for T cell activation and survival, and CD38 is an activating marker of T lymphocyte with high expression in many acute or chronic infections. The immune signature of CD28null T cells in the peripheral circulation associates with chronic inflammation in many diseases, such as HIV and CMV infection. In the thymus, CD28 expression on developing thymocytes appears to play a role for their selection, and it synergizes with CD38 to induce apoptosis of DP (double-positive) thymocytes. Few reports about CD28 and CD38 have been published in schistosomiasis. Here, we investigated the dynamic patterns of the expression of molecules CD28 and CD38 on CD4(+)/CD8(+) T lymphocytes of the thymus and spleen in mice model with S. japonicum infection. Our data indicated that at an early period of infection, the frequency of CD8(+)CD28(-) T cell in the spleen decreased significantly, but higher at chronic infection than that in control. However, it demonstrated an increasing trend in the thymus with the progression of infection. The frequency of CD4(+)CD28(-) T cells increased from acute infection in the thymus, while from chronic infection in the spleen. The expression of CD38 on CD8(+) T cells began to increase at 4 weeks post infection both in the thymus and spleen; its elevated expression on CD4(+) T cells emerged at 6 weeks post infection in the thymus and at 10 weeks post infection in the spleen. Praziquantel (PZQ) treatment could partially restore the frequency of CD28(+) T cell of CD4(+) T cells and CD38(+) T cell of CD8(+)/CD4(+) T cells in the spleen and CD38(+) T cell in the thymus. We hypothesized that the reactivation of S. japonicum infection may trigger expansion of CD28(-) T cells and hence mediate systemic inflammation. We speculated that CD8(+)CD28(-) T cell might be involved in immune modulation and CD8(+)CD28(-) T cell may be a crucial part in pathogenesis, which can provide further knowledge of the sophisticated mechanism of immuno-downregulation in schistosomiasis and potential treatment target.

Correlation of serum ß2-microglobulin levels with prostate-specific antigen, Gleason score, clinical stage, tumor metastasis and therapy efficacy in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite previous reports implying a role of ß2-microglobulin (ß2M) in the development of prostate cancer (PCa), the correlation of serum ß2M with the clinicopathological features, therapy efficacy and prognosis of patients with PCa have not been fully clarified. The present study aims to investigate the serum levels of ß2M in patients with PCa and explore the potential use of ß2M as a tumor marker for diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of PCa. METHODS: Serum ß2M levels in 120 patients with PCa, 50 patients with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and 85 healthy age-matched controls were measured by enzyme immunoassay. The correlation of serum ß2M with the clinicopathological features, therapy efficacy and the prognosis of PCa were subsequently assessed. RESULTS: Our results showed that: (i) PCa patients had significantly higher levels of ß2M compared to those of patients with BPH or those of healthy controls. (ii) Serum ß2M were markedly elevated in patients with high stage or grade PCa as compared to patients with low stage or grade PCa. (iii) We measured significantly higher levels of ß2M in patients with metastasis as compared to patients lacking metastasis. (iv) During follow-up, serum ß2M showed a marked decrease after successful therapy and a significant further increase in recurrent disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that serum ß2M is correlated closely with the clinical stage, Gleason grade, PSA, distant metastasis and therapy efficacy in patients with PCa. Serum ß2M may be a useful biomarker for clinical diagnosis, follow-up and prognosis of PCa.