Study of the Antibacterial Capacity of a Biomaterial of Zeolites Saturated with Copper Ions (Cu2+) and Supported with Copper Oxide (CuO) Nanoparticles.

In this work, copper (II) ions were saturated and copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) were supported in natural zeolite from Chile; this was achieved by making the adsorbent material come into contact with a copper ion precursor solution and using mechanical agitation, respectively. The kinetic and physicochemical process of the adsorption of copper ions in the zeolite was studied, as well as the effect of the addition of CuO NPs on the antibacterial properties. The results showed that the saturation of copper (II) ions in the zeolite is an efficient process, obtaining a 27 g L-1 concentration of copper ions in a time of 30 min. The TEM images showed that a good dispersion of the CuO NPs was obtained via mechanical stirring. The material effectively inhibited the growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria that have shown resistance to methicillin and carbapenem. Furthermore, the zeolite saturated with copper at the same concentration had a better bactericidal effect than the zeolite supported with CuO NPs. The results suggested that the ease of processing and low cost of copper (II) ion-saturated zeolitic material could potentially be used for dental biomedical applications, either directly or as a bactericidal additive for 3D printing filaments.

MIRO2 Regulates Prostate Cancer Cell Growth via GCN1-Dependent Stress Signaling.

There is a continued need to identify novel therapeutic targets to prevent the mortality associated with prostate cancer. In this context, mitochondrial Rho GTPase 2 (MIRO2) mRNA was upregulated in metastatic prostate cancer compared with localized tumors, and higher MIRO2 levels were correlated with poor patient survival. Using human cell lines that represent androgen-independent or -sensitive prostate cancer, we showed that MIRO2 depletion impaired cell growth, colony formation, and tumor growth in mice. Network analysis of MIRO2's binding partners identified metabolism and cellular responses to extracellular stimuli as top overrepresented pathways. The top hit on our screen, General Control Nonderepressible 1 (GCN1), was overexpressed in prostate cancer, and interacted with MIRO2 in prostate cancer cell lines and in primary prostate cancer cells. Functional analysis of MIRO2 mutations present in patients with prostate cancer led to the identification of MIRO2 159L, which increased GCN1 binding. Importantly, MIRO2 was necessary for efficient GCN1-mediated GCN2 kinase signaling and induction of the transcription factor activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) levels. Further, MIRO2's effect on regulating prostate cancer cell growth was mediated by ATF4. Finally, levels of activated GCN2 and ATF4 were correlated with MIRO2 expression in prostate cancer xenografts. Both MIRO2 and activated GCN2 levels were higher in hypoxic areas of prostate cancer xenografts. Overall, we propose that targeting the MIRO2-GCN1 axis may be a valuable strategy to halt prostate cancer growth. IMPLICATIONS: MIRO2/GCN1/GCN2 constitute a novel mitochondrial signaling pathway that controls androgen-independent and androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cell growth.

MAP3K7 Loss Drives Enhanced Androgen Signaling and Independently Confers Risk of Recurrence in Prostate Cancer with Joint Loss of CHD1.

Prostate cancer genomic subtypes that stratify aggressive disease and inform treatment decisions at the primary stage are currently limited. Previously, we functionally validated an aggressive subtype present in 15% of prostate cancer characterized by dual deletion of MAP3K7 and CHD1. Recent studies in the field have focused on deletion of CHD1 and its role in androgen receptor (AR) chromatin distribution and resistance to AR-targeted therapy; however, CHD1 is rarely lost without codeletion of MAP3K7. Here, we show that in the clinically relevant context of co-loss of MAP3K7 and CHD1 there are significant, collective changes to aspects of AR signaling. Although CHD1 loss mainly impacts the expansion of the AR cistrome, loss of MAP3K7 drives increased AR target gene expression. Prostate cancer cell line models engineered to cosuppress MAP3K7 and CHD1 also demonstrated increased AR-v7 expression and resistance to the AR-targeting drug enzalutamide. Furthermore, we determined that low protein expression of both genes is significantly associated with biochemical recurrence (BCR) in a clinical cohort of radical prostatectomy specimens. Low MAP3K7 expression, however, was the strongest independent predictor for risk of BCR over all other tested clinicopathologic factors including CHD1 expression. Collectively, these findings illustrate the importance of MAP3K7 loss in a molecular subtype of prostate cancer that poses challenges to conventional therapeutic approaches. IMPLICATIONS: These findings strongly implicate MAP3K7 loss as a biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer with significant risk for recurrence that poses challenges for conventional androgen receptor-targeted therapies.

New insights on mercury abatement and modeling in a full-scale municipal solid waste incineration flue gas treatment unit.

Modeling approaches are generally used to describe mercury transformations in a single step of flue gas treatment processes. However, less attention has been given to the interactions between the different process stages. Accordingly, the mercury removal performance of a full-scale solid waste incineration plant, equipped with a dry flue gas treatment line was investigated using two complementary modeling strategies: a thermochemical equilibrium approach to study the mercury transformation mechanisms and speciation in the flue gas, and a kinetic approach to describe the mercury adsorption process. The modeling observations were then compared to real-operation full-scale data. Considering the typical flue gas composition of waste incineration facilities (high concentrations of HCl compared to Hg), it was found that a process temperature decrease results in better mercury removal efficiencies, associated with a higher oxidation extent of Hg in HgCl2, and the enhancement of the sorbent capacity. Improvements can also be attained by increasing the sorbent injection rate to the process, or the solid/gas separation cycles. An empirical correlation to predict the mercury removal efficiency from the main operating parameters of dry flue gas treatment units was proposed, representing a useful tool for waste incineration facilities. The presented modeling approach proved to be suitable to evaluate the behavior of full-scale gas treatment units, and properly select the most adequate adjustments in operating parameters, in order to respect the increasingly constraining mercury emissions regulations.

Loss of MAP3K7 Sensitizes Prostate Cancer Cells to CDK1/2 Inhibition and DNA Damage by Disrupting Homologous Recombination.

The combined loss of CHD1 and MAP3K7 promotes aggressive prostate cancer by unknown mechanisms. Because both of these genes are lost genetically in prostate cancer, they cannot be directly targeted. We applied an established computational systems pharmacology approach (TRAP) to identify altered signaling pathways and associated druggable targets. We compared gene expression profiles of prostate cancer with coloss of CHD1 and MAP3K7 with prostate cancer diploid for these genes using The Cancer Genome Atlas patient samples. This analysis prioritized druggable target genes that included CDK1 and CDK2. We validated that inhibitors of these druggable target genes, including the CDK1/CDK2 inhibitor dinaciclib, had antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects selectively on mouse prostate cells with knockdown of Chd1 and Map3k7. Dinaciclib had stronger effects on prostate cells with suppression of Map3k7 independent of Chd1 and also compared with cells without loss of Map3k7. Dinaciclib treatment reduced expression of homologous recombination (HR) repair genes such as ATM, ATR, BRCA2, and RAD51, blocked BRCA1 phosphorylation, reduced RAD51 foci formation, and increased γH2AX foci selectively in prostate cells with suppression of Map3k7, thus inhibiting HR repair of chromosomal double-strand breaks. Dinaciclib-induced HR disruption was also observed in human prostate cells with knockdown of MAP3K7. Cotreatment of dinaciclib with DNA-damaging agents or PARP inhibitor resulted in a stronger cytotoxic effect on prostate cells with suppression of MAP3K7 compared with those without loss of MAP3K7, or to each single agent. IMPLICATIONS: These findings demonstrate that loss of MAP3K7 is a main contributing factor to drug response through disruption of HR in prostate cancer.

Coordinate loss of MAP3K7 and CHD1 promotes aggressive prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer subtypes are poorly defined and functional validation of drivers of ETS rearrangement-negative prostate cancer has not been conducted. Here, we identified an ETS(-) subtype of aggressive prostate cancer (ERG(-)MAP3K7(del)CHD1(del)) and used a novel developmental model and a cell line xenograft model to show that cosuppression of MAP3K7 and CHD1 expression promotes aggressive disease. Analyses of publicly available prostate cancer datasets revealed that MAP3K7 and CHD1 were significantly codeleted in 10% to 20% of localized tumors and combined loss correlated with poor disease-free survival. To evaluate the functional impact of dual MAP3K7-CHD1 loss, we suppressed Map3k7 and/or Chd1 expression in mouse prostate epithelial progenitor/stem cells (PrP/SC) and performed tissue recombination experiments in vivo. Dual shMap3k7-shChd1 PrP/SC recombinants displayed massive glandular atypia with regions of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and carcinoma apparent. Combined Map3k7-Chd1 suppression greatly disrupted normal prostatic lineage differentiation; dual recombinants displayed significant androgen receptor loss, increased neuroendocrine differentiation, and increased neural differentiation. Clinical samples with dual MAP3K7-CHD1 loss also displayed neuroendocrine and neural characteristics. In addition, dual Map3k7-Chd1 suppression promoted E-cadherin loss and mucin production in recombinants. MAP3K7 and CHD1 protein loss also correlated with Gleason grade and E-cadherin loss in clinical samples. To further validate the phenotype observed in the PrP/SC model, we suppressed MAP3K7 and/or CHD1 expression in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Dual shMAP3K7-shCHD1 LNCaP xenografts displayed increased tumor growth and decreased survival compared with shControl, shMAP3K7, and shCHD1 xenografts. Collectively, these data identify coordinate loss of MAP3K7 and CHD1 as a unique driver of aggressive prostate cancer development.

Silibinin prevents prostate cancer cell-mediated differentiation of naïve fibroblasts into cancer-associated fibroblast phenotype by targeting TGF ß2.

Tumor microenvironment (TM) is an essential element in prostate cancer (PCA), offering unique opportunities for its prevention. TM includes naïve fibroblasts that are recruited by nascent neoplastic lesion and altered into 'cancer-associated fibroblasts' (CAFs) that promote PCA. A better understanding and targeting of interaction between PCA cells and fibroblasts and inhibiting CAF phenotype through non-toxic agents are novel approaches to prevent PCA progression. One well-studied cancer chemopreventive agent is silibinin, and thus, we examined its efficacy against PCA cells-mediated differentiation of naïve fibroblasts into a myofibroblastic-phenotype similar to that found in CAFs. Silibinin's direct inhibitory effect on the phenotype of CAFs derived directly from PCA patients was also assessed. Human prostate stromal cells (PrSCs) exposed to control conditioned media (CCM) from human PCA PC3 cells showed more invasiveness, with increased alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and vimentin expression, and differentiation into a phenotype we identified in CAFs. Importantly, silibinin (at physiologically achievable concentrations) inhibited α-SMA expression and invasiveness in differentiated fibroblasts and prostate CAFs directly, as well as indirectly by targeting PCA cells. The observed increase in α-SMA and CAF-like phenotype was transforming growth factor (TGF) ß2 dependent, which was strongly inhibited by silibinin. Furthermore, induction of α-SMA and CAF phenotype by CCM were also strongly inhibited by a TGFß2-neutralizing antibody. The inhibitory effect of silibinin on TGFß2 expression and CAF-like biomarkers was also observed in PC3 tumors. Together, these findings highlight the potential usefulness of silibinin in PCA prevention through targeting the CAF phenotype in the prostate TM.

Lipid catabolism via CPT1 as a therapeutic target for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among Western men and accounts for the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Prostate cancer tends to grow slowly and recent studies suggest that it relies on lipid fuel more than on aerobic glycolysis. However, the biochemical mechanisms governing the relationships between lipid synthesis, lipid utilization, and cancer growth remain unknown. To address the role of lipid metabolism in prostate cancer, we have used etomoxir and orlistat, clinically safe drugs that block lipid oxidation and lipid synthesis/lipolysis, respectively. Etomoxir is an irreversible inhibitor of the carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT1) enzyme that decreases ß oxidation in the mitochondria. Combinatorial treatments using etomoxir and orlistat resulted in synergistic decreased viability in LNCaP, VCaP, and patient-derived benign and prostate cancer cells. These effects were associated with decreased androgen receptor expression, decreased mTOR signaling, and increased caspase-3 activation. Knockdown of CPT1A enzyme in LNCaP cells resulted in decreased palmitate oxidation but increased sensitivity to etomoxir, with inactivation of AKT kinase and activation of caspase-3. Systemic treatment with etomoxir in nude mice resulted in decreased xenograft growth over 21 days, underscoring the therapeutic potential of blocking lipid catabolism to decrease prostate cancer tumor growth.

Corioamnionitis en biopsia por congelación de placentas en pacientes con riesgo de infección y su relación con morbimortalidad del recién nacido / Histological chorioamnionitis in placental biopsy by frozen section in patients at increased risk of infection and its association with neonatal morbidity and mortality

Se busca determinar si el diagnóstico de corioamnionitis en biopsia por congelación de placenta se relaciona con desenlace desfavorable en el recién nacido. Materiales y métodos: cohorte prospectiva de gestantes con alta sospecha de corioamnionitis a quienes se les practicó biopsia por congelación de cordón y membranas con estudio histopatológico usual, y se relacionó con la morbimortalidad del recién nacido. Resultados: en 23 placentas con sospecha de corioamnionitis se hizo estudio por congelación y parafina; cuatro fueron positivos en ambos y 19 negativos. Cinco desarrollaron sepsis temprana, todos con diagnóstico clínico de corioamnionitis en sus madres, de los cuales tres fueron positivos en ambos estudios microscópicos. Conclusiones: se evaluó la sepsis temprana y la mortalidad en hijos de madres con corioamnionitis diagnosticada mediante biopsias por congelación y parafina, evidenciando una adecuada relación. El diagnóstico por congelación fue preciso y temprano, posicionándose como una posible herramienta diagnóstica que permite un abordaje temprano tanto materno como del neonato con infección potencial, para así disminuir los desenlaces adversos con impacto en la morbimortalidad neonatal...

To determine if histological diagnosis of chorioamnionitis in placental biopsy by frozen section is associated with adverse neonatal outcome. Materials and Methods: prospective cohort study performed in pregnant women with high risk of developing chorioamnionitis associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality. A placental biopsy by frozen section of umbilical cord and membranes was conducted and processed by the usual techniques. Results: placental frozen and paraphin-fixed sections were conducted in 23 patients with clinical suspicion of chorioamnionitis; four were positive in both studies and 19 were negative. Five infants born to women with diagnosed chorioamnionitis developed early-onset sepsis, of which three were positive in both histological studies. Conclusions: early-onset sepsis and mortality was evaluated in neonates of mothers with chorioamnionitis diagnosed by frozen and paraphin-fixed sections, evidencing an adequate relationship. Diagnosis by frozen biopsy section was accurate and timely, and has become a diagnostic tool which allows an early approach both in mothers and infants with potential infection, to reduce adverse outcomes impacting neonatal morbidity and mortality...

Exposure to urban air pollution and bone health in clinically healthy six-year-old children.

Air pollution induces systemic inflammation, as well as respiratory, myocardial and brain inflammation in children. Peak bone mass is influenced by environmental factors. We tested the hypothesis that six-year-olds with lifetime exposures to urban air pollution will have alterations in inflammatory markers and bone mineral density (BMD) as opposed to low-polluted city residents when matched for BMI, breast feeding history, skin phototype, age, sex and socioeconomic status. This pilot study included 20 children from Mexico City (MC) (6.17 years ± 0.63 years) and 15 controls (6.27 years ± 0.76 years). We performed full paediatric examinations, a history of outdoor exposures, seven-day dietary recalls, serum inflammatory markers and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Children in MC had significantly higher concentrations of IL-6 (p=0.001), marked reductions in total blood neutrophils (p= 0.0002) and an increase in monocytes (p=0.005). MC children also had an insufficient Vitamin D intake and spent less time outdoors than controls (p<0.001) in an environment characterized by decreased UV light, with ozone and fine particulates concentrations above standard values. There were no significant differences between the cohorts in DXA Z scores. The impact of systemic inflammation, vitamin D insufficiency, air pollution, urban violence and poverty may have long-term bone detrimental outcomes in exposed paediatric populations as they grow older, increasing the risk of low bone mass and osteoporosis. The selection of reference populations for DXA must take into account air pollution exposures.

Suppression of Tak1 promotes prostate tumorigenesis.

More than 30% of primary prostate cancers contain a consensus deletion of an approximately 800 kb locus on chromosome 6q15.1. The MAP3K7 gene, which encodes TGF-ß activated kinase-1 (Tak1), is a putative prostate tumor suppressor gene within this region whose precise function remains obscure. In this study, we investigated the role of Tak1 in human and murine prostate cancers. In 50 well-characterized human cancer specimens, we found that Tak1 expression was progressively lost with increasing Gleason grade, both within each cancer and across all cancers. In murine prostate stem cells and Tak1-deficient prostatic epithelial cells, Tak1 loss increased proliferation, migration, and invasion. When prostate stem cells attenuated for Tak1 were engrafted with fetal urogenital mesenchyme, the histopathology of the grafts reflected the natural history of prostate cancer leading from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive carcinoma. In the grafts containing Tak1-suppressed prostate stem cells, p38 and c-jun-NH(2)-kinase activity was attenuated and proliferation was increased. Together, our findings functionally validate the proposed tumor suppressor role of Tak1 in prostate cancer.

Isolation of prostate tumor initiating cells (TICs) through their dielectrophoretic signature.

In this study, the dielectrophoretic response of prostate tumor initiating cells (TICs) was investigated in a microfluidic system utilizing contactless dielectrophoresis (cDEP). The dielectrophoretic response of prostate TICs was observed to be distinctively different than that for non-TICs, enabling them to be sorted using cDEP. Culturing the sorted TICs generated spheroids, indicating that they were indeed initiating cells. This study presents the first marker-free TIC separation from non-TICs utilizing their electrical fingerprints through dielectrophoresis.

Does preoperative magnetic resonance imaging beneficially alter surgical management of invasive lobular carcinoma?

The role of breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer remains controversial. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of preoperative breast MRI on patients with biopsy-proven invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) initially deemed eligible for breast conserving therapy. We analyzed a prospective cohort study of patients with biopsy-proven ILC that consented to undergo preoperative diagnostic MRI at our institution. Data analysis of 20 patients accrued from January 2010 through January 2011 was performed. Outcome measures included discovery of occult lesions, need for additional biopsies, change in surgical management, and need for surgical reexcision. MRI found an additional cancer in 40 per cent of patients and increased extent of disease in one patient. MRI led to eight biopsies, for a pathologically confirmed true positive rate of 82 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI) 62-101%] and only two unnecessary biopsies. Preoperative MRI beneficially altered surgical management in 42 per cent of patients (95% CI 19-65%) without leading to unnecessary surgery, and only one patient required reexcision for positive margins (5.8%, CI -5.8-17.4%). In conclusion, preoperative MRI in patients with ILC can detect additional disease that was missed by conventional workup, allowing for better preoperative planning and more appropriate oncologic resection.

Exposure to severe urban air pollution influences cognitive outcomes, brain volume and systemic inflammation in clinically healthy children.

Exposure to severe air pollution produces neuroinflammation and structural brain alterations in children. We tested whether patterns of brain growth, cognitive deficits and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are associated with exposures to severe air pollution. Baseline and 1 year follow-up measurements of global and regional brain MRI volumes, cognitive abilities (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, WISC-R), and serum inflammatory mediators were collected in 20 Mexico City (MC) children (10 with white matter hyperintensities, WMH(+), and 10 without, WMH(-)) and 10 matched controls (CTL) from a low polluted city. There were significant differences in white matter volumes between CTL and MC children - both WMH(+) and WMH(-) - in right parietal and bilateral temporal areas. Both WMH(-) and WMH(+) MC children showed progressive deficits, compared to CTL children, on the WISC-R Vocabulary and Digit Span subtests. The cognitive deficits in highly exposed children match the localization of the volumetric differences detected over the 1 year follow-up, since the deficits observed are consistent with impairment of parietal and temporal lobe functions. Regardless of the presence of prefrontal WMH, Mexico City children performed more poorly across a variety of cognitive tests, compared to CTL children, thus WMH(+) is likely only partially identifying underlying white matter pathology. Together these findings reveal that exposure to air pollution may perturb the trajectory of cerebral development and result in cognitive deficits during childhood.

Air pollution is associated with brainstem auditory nuclei pathology and delayed brainstem auditory evoked potentials.

We assessed brainstem inflammation in children exposed to air pollutants by comparing brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) and blood inflammatory markers in children age 96.3±8.5 months from highly polluted (n=34) versus a low polluted city (n=17). The brainstems of nine children with accidental deaths were also examined. Children from the highly polluted environment had significant delays in wave III (t(50)=17.038; p<0.0001) and wave V (t(50)=19.730; p<0.0001) but no delay in wave I (p=0.548). They also had significantly longer latencies than controls for interwave intervals I-III, III-V, and I-V (all t(50)>7.501; p<0.0001), consisting with delayed central conduction time of brainstem neural transmission. Highly exposed children showed significant evidence of inflammatory markers and their auditory and vestibular nuclei accumulated α synuclein and/or ß amyloid(1-42). Medial superior olive neurons, critically involved in BAEPs, displayed significant pathology. Children's exposure to urban air pollution increases their risk for auditory and vestibular impairment.

Axillary recurrence is low in patients with breast cancer who do not undergo completion axillary lymph node dissection for micrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes.

Completion axillary lymph node dissection (CLND) is presently the standard of care after a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). We hypothesize that the incidence of axillary recurrence in patients who do not undergo CLND for micrometastases is low, and CLND is not necessary for locoregional control. We performed a retrospective chart review of patients with invasive breast carcinoma and micrometastases detected on SLNB. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Nomogram (MSKN) predicting the likelihood of nonsentinel lymph node (NSN) metastases was compared with the incidence of positive NSN. There were 61 patients identified with a mean follow-up of 70 months. The average tumor size was 2 cm. The median number of positive SLNs was one. Twenty-eight (46%) patients had a CLND; of these, 20 patients had one positive NSN (2 of 28 [7%]) and the mean MSKN score was 12 per cent. There were 33 (54%) patients who had SLNB alone, and their mean MSKN score was 13 per cent. Axillary recurrence in this group was 1.6 per cent. We conclude the incidence of axillary recurrence in patients with micrometastases detected by SLN biopsy who do not undergo CLND is low. The use of a predictive nomogram to estimate likelihood of metastatic disease to NSN may overestimate the actual incidence of positive NSN in patients with micrometastases.

Completion axillary lymph node dissection not required for regional control in patients with breast cancer who have micrometastases in a sentinel node.

HYPOTHESIS: Completion axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is not required for regional control in patients with metastases in the sentinel lymph node (SLN). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Urban teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Fifty patients with breast cancer who underwent breast-conserving surgery, had an SLN positive for metastasis, and did not undergo completion ALND. INTERVENTIONS: Breast-conserving surgery with SLN biopsy, breast irradiation, and systemic therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Locoregional and distant recurrence and survival. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 57 years (range, 29-83 years). The mean tumor size was 1.9 cm (range, 0.4-5 cm). The mean number of positive nodes was 1.3 (median, 1; range, 1-2). Fourteen patients (30%) had macrometastases (>2 mm), and 33 patients (71%) had micrometastases. The mean duration of follow-up was 82 months (median, 79 months; range, 6-142 months). One patient with an SLN micrometastasis (1 of 33; 3%) and 1 patient with an SLN macrometastasis (1 of 14; 7%) developed an axillary recurrence with distant metastasis at 84 months and 28 months, respectively. There was 1 death (2%) not related to breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SLN metastases who do not undergo ALND have a low incidence of regional recurrence. Axillary lymph node dissection is not necessary for regional control in patients with micrometastatic disease.

PDCD1 gene polymorphisms in different Mexican ethnic groups and their role in the susceptibility to hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

OBJECTIVE: Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is an immunological disorder caused by antigen exposure in susceptible individuals. The PDCD1 polymorphisms, PD1.3 and PD1.5 have been associated with the susceptibility to inflammatory disorders. This study was conducted to test whether the PD1.3 and PD1.5 polymorphisms are associated with HP in Mexican patients and to explore the distribution of these polymorphisms in different Mexican ethnic groups. DESIGN AND METHODS: We studied 98 Mexican patients with HP and 92 healthy Mexican controls. Also, 156 healthy Amerindian individuals from two ethnic groups were included (96 Mayans and 60 Mayos). Polymorphisms were determined by TaqMan 5' nuclease assays. RESULTS: Significant differences in the distribution of the PD1.3 and PD1.5 genotypes between HP patients and healthy Mestizo controls were not found. We observed a significantly different distribution of these polymorphisms in Mexican Mestizos when compared to the Amerindians. CONCLUSIONS: We found no association between PD1 polymorphism and HP; however the distribution of these polymorphisms was different in Mexican Mestizos and Amerindians.

Late diagnosis of primary hyperoxaluria type 2 in the adult: effect of a novel mutation in GRHPR gene on enzymatic activity and molecular modeling.

PURPOSE: Genetic causes of nephrolithiasis are underestimated. Primary hyperoxaluria type 2 is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the GRHPR gene, leading to an accumulation of oxalate and L-glycerate with recurrent kidney stone formation and nephrocalcinosis, and the later development of renal failure and systemic oxalate depositions. We studied the effects of a novel GRHPR mutation on GRHPR enzymatic activity and molecular modeling. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genomic DNA from a 50-year-old male with a late diagnosis of primary hyperoxaluria type 2 was extracted, analyzed and compared with the established human GRHPR gene sequence. Restriction enzyme analysis of the patient, 30 healthy controls and 30 patients with nephrolithiasis of various causes was done to confirm the presence of the mutation. GRHPR activity was analyzed by site directed mutagenesis of WT and mutant clones. We studied the effects of the mutation on enzymatic molecular modeling. RESULTS: We found the novel homozygous single missense mutation A975G in exon 9, creating an amino acid change from asparagine to aspartic acid in position 312. No mutations were detected in restriction enzyme analysis in all 30 healthy controls and 30 patients with nephrolithiasis of various causes. Transfected cells with the mutant clone showed abolished GRHPR activity. Molecular modeling studies revealed that the mutation was likely to disrupt the correct folding of the GRHPR substrate binding domain, hence affecting the enzyme active site. CONCLUSIONS: Primary hyperoxaluria type 2 should be considered in patients at adult stone clinics who have had a history of nephrolithiasis since childhood, especially in those with consanguineous parents. Biochemical analysis followed by mutation identification should be the approach for making the definitive diagnosis of primary hyperoxaluria type 2.

Immunotoxicity and environment: immunodysregulation and systemic inflammation in children.

Environmental pollutants, chemicals, and drugs have an impact on children's immune system development. Mexico City (MC) children exposed to significant concentrations of air pollutants exhibit chronic respiratory inflammation, systemic inflammation, neuroinflammation, and cognitive deficits. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to severe air pollution plays a role in the immune responses of asymptomatic, apparently healthy children. Blood measurements for markers of immune function, inflammatory mediators, and molecules interacting with the lipopolysaccharide recognition complex were obtained from two cohorts of matched children (aged 9.7 +/- 1.2 years) from southwest Mexico City (SWMC) (n = 66) and from a control city (n = 93) with criteria pollutant levels below current standards. MC children exhibited significant decreases in the numbers of natural killer cells (p = .003) and increased numbers of mCD14+ monocytes (p < .001) and CD8+ cells (p = .02). Lower concentrations of interferon gamma (p = .009) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (p < .001), an endotoxin tolerance-like state, systemic inflammation, and an anti-inflammatory response were also present in the highly exposed children. C-reactive protein and the prostaglandin E metabolite levels were positively correlated with twenty-four- and forty-eight-hour cumulative concentrations of PM(2.5). Exposure to urban air pollution is associated with immunodysregulation and systemic inflammation in children and is a major health threat.