Effect of different food and sugar sources on the larval biology and adult longevity of Anopheles darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae).

Anopheles darlingi is the main vector of the disease in the Amazon, and several studies on its ecology and behavior have been conducted. Although the basic nutritional requirements of insects are well known, quantitative needs with respect to food components and their balance vary among insect species; therefore, such information is needed in order to improve insect rearing for mass production. The present work evaluated the effect of different animal diets on larval biology and the utilization of different sugar sources in An. darlingi adults. First instar larvae obtained from wild-captured mosquitoes were reared in plastic trays containing 1 L of water and fed daily according to their larval instar stage with different commercial diets for fish, reptiles, and dogs, as well as a manipulated diet including Macapo. Larval mortality was recorded daily, and development time was calculated as the time required for 50% of the larvae to reach the last larval instar. Pupae and adults produced from larvae fed with different animal diets were also counted daily. Adults were fed with 10% sugar solutions of honey, sucrose, and sugar cane molasses, and longevity was recorded. Larval mortality was reduced for larvae feeding on fish food (higher protein content) compared to those fed with dog food (lower protein content) in later instars; the first and third instars presented a higher mortality than other instars, regardless of the food provided. Larval development time was reduced in larvae fed with fish food compared with dog food. The average daily production of pupae and adults were significantly higher in the treatment using fish food than in all other diet treatments. In general, adults from larvae fed on fish food and those that ingested honey as an adult sugar source lived longer than those reared on other treatments. Fish food, i.e., Tetramin Tropical Flakes, for larvae and honey, as a carbohydrate source for adults, seem to better support the rearing of Anopheles darlingi under our experimental conditions.

About locoregional recurrence risk after lipofilling in breast cancer patients: our experience.

AIM: Lipofilling is a part of the clinical practice for breast reshaping in patients who underwent surgery for breast cancer. A strong debate in the Literature is open about a higher risk of cancer relapse caused by growth factors produced by adipocyte stem cells after their engraftment in the recipient tissue. Nowadays there is no agreement over the use of autologous fat tissue for the correction of aesthetic defects following breast conservative surgery. METHODS: We have considered 151 patients who underwent a breast conservative surgery in the period April 2004-April 2009, followed by one or more lipofilling sessions in the period June 2006-August 2012. A careful pre-operative evaluation of the tumor characteristics has been made, through imaging exams, MRI included. An intraoperative evaluation of the tumor dimensions and its distance from the surgical edges has also been made, followed by a microscopic analysis through a shaving technique. Lipofilling has been offered to all the patients on average 24 months after surgery. RESULTS: We have found no cancer relapses after a mean follow up of 45 months (17-76) after lipofilling and of 69 (27-100) months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Considering oncologic surgery, we can affirm that lipofilling is safe for the risk of cancer relapses, if performed using all the parameters included in our clinical protocol.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in pigs, goats, cattle, dogs and cats in peninsular Malaysia.

Antibodies to the protozoan parasite, Toxoplasma gondii were assayed in sera of 200 goats, 100 pigs, 126 cattle from various states of Malaysia, and 135 dogs and 55 cats around Ipoh region using an indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT, cut-off titer 1:200); antibodies were found in 35.5% of goats, 14.5% cats, 9.6% dogs, 7.9% local cattle and 4% yellow cattle but not in pigs. Results indicate that infection is most prevalent in goats.

Alopecia / Alopecia

Alopecia é a diminuição excessiva de pêlos no corpo com causas e padrões que variam. A alopecia é tanto um sinal quanto um sintoma de doença, interna, na maioria das vezes, ou externa, que se manifesta de diferentes maneiras e acomete diferentes tipos de pacientes, abrangendo todas as faixas etárias. Este artigo é uma revisão da literatura e dos últimos guidelines e tem como finalidade instruir o leitor sobre os aspectos clínicos e anatomopatólogicos das alopecias cicatriciais e não-cicatriciais. Além disso, os tipos de tratamentos vigentes para tais afecções são brevemente comentados. É um resumo de aspectos relevantes das alopecias mais prevalentes e sem pretensão de esgotar o assunto.

Reduction in mitochondrial potential constitutes an early irreversible step of programmed lymphocyte death in vivo.

In a number of experimental systems in which lymphocyte depletion was induced by apoptosis-inducing manipulations, no apoptotic morphology and ladder-type DNA fragmentation were detected among freshly isolated peripheral lymphocytes ex vivo. Here we report that one alteration that can be detected among splenocytes stimulated with lymphocyte-depleting doses of dexamethasone (DEX) in vivo is a reduced uptake of 3,3'dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide (DiOC6[3]), a fluorochrome which incorporates into cells dependent upon their mitochondrial transmembrane potential (delta psi m). In contrast, ex vivo isolated splenocytes still lacked established signs of programmed cell death (PCD):DNA degradation into high or low molecular weight fragments, ultrastructural changes of chromatin arrangement and endoplasmatic reticulum, loss in viability, or accumulation of intracellular peroxides. Moreover, no changes in cell membrane potential could be detected. A reduced delta psi m has been observed in response to different agents inducing lymphoid cell depletion in vivo (superantigen and glucocorticoids [GC]), in mature T and B lymphocytes, as well as their precursors. DEX treatment in vivo, followed by cytofluorometric purification of viable delta psi mlow splenic T cells ex vivo, revealed that this fraction of cells is irreversibly committed to undergoing DNA fragmentation. Immediately after purification neither delta psi mlow, nor delta psi mhigh cells, exhibit detectable DNA fragmentation. However, after short-term culture (37 degrees C, 1 h) delta psi mlow cells show endonucleolysis, followed by cytolysis several hours later. Incubation of delta psi mlow cells in the presence of excess amount of the GC receptor antagonist RU38486 (which displaces DEX from the GC receptor), cytokines that inhibit DEX-induced cell death, or cycloheximide fails to prevent cytolysis. The antioxidant, N-acetylcysteine, as well as linomide, an agent that effectively inhibits DEX or superantigen-induced lymphocyte depletion in vivo, also stabilize the DiOC6(3) uptake. In contrast, the endonuclease inhibitor, aurintricarboxylic acid acts at later stages of apoptosis and only retards the transition from the viable delta psi mlow to the nonviable fraction. Altogether, these data suggest a sequence of PCD-associated events in which a reduction in delta psi m constitutes an obligate irreversible step of ongoing lymphocyte death, preceding other alterations of cellular physiology, and thus allowing for the ex vivo assessment of PCD.

Bacterial crude extracts or ribosomes are recognized similarly by peripheral and mucosal B cells.

Bacterial ribosomes have been shown to induce effective humoral and cellular immunological responses to whole microorganisms. In this study, the numbers of specific antibody producing cells directed towards Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes and Haemophilus influenzae ribosomes or whole bacteria sonicates were compared in the peripheral blood and tonsils of 7 children, and in the tonsils, mesenteric and cervical lymph nodes of 10 sheep. No significant difference was noted between the two types of antigens, confirming that ribosomal preparations are able to mimic the immunogenicity of whole bacteria in the mucosae-associated lymphoid tissue.

Compartmentalization of specific B-cells in sheep mucosae associated lymphoid organs.

Numerous studies have shown that Peyer's patches (PP) contribute to the seeding of other lymphoid organs in sheep. This was demonstrated by perfusing labeled lymphocytes in PP, and later investigating their presence in drainage lymph nodes, spleen, peripheral blood or bone marrow. These data showed that PP export considerable numbers of cells every day, but provided no information as to their specificity. In this work, we used the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) spot method to investigate, in the peripheral blood, mesenteric and cervical lymph nodes and tonsils from ten sheep, the numbers of specific B-cells, directed to four common bacteria of the oro-pharyngeal area of mammals: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Haemophilus influenzae or Klebsiella pneumoniae. The data were obtained from five sets of monozygous sheep, one animal of each pair being previously fed ribosomal preparations of these bacteria. Both prior to and after oral challenge, specific B-cells could be found in all the tissues tested. They were mostly IgG-producing cells and preferentially located in oro-pharyngeal drainage lymph nodes and tonsils. Their numbers increased in these lymph nodes after stimulation, while they decreased in mesenteric lymph nodes. These observations are consistent with the current hypothesis suggesting intestinal sensitization, proliferation and fast emigration of specific B-cells after oral challenge.

Antibody-producing cells in peripheral blood and tonsils after oral treatment of children with bacterial ribosomes.

The efficacy of ribosomal preparations as mucosal immunostimulants was examined in the peripheral blood and tonsils of 14 children, before and after 28 days of oral treatment with D-53, a preparation of ribosomes from Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pyogenes. Tonsils from 10 untreated children were used as controls. Immunofluorescence and ELISAspot were performed to analyse variations in the numbers of immunoglobulin-containing and immunoglobulin-secreting B-cells. Both isotypic and antigenic specificities of these two types of cells were investigated. Significant differences were observed after treatment in the peripheral blood as well as between tonsils from treated and untreated children. In the peripheral blood a significant increase in immunoglobulin-secreting cells directed against antigenic specificities of D-53 was the major change. In tonsils, higher numbers of specific immunoglobulin-containing and secreting cells, and higher numbers of IgA-secreting cells were induced in treated children. These data support the efficacy of D-53 as an oral immunostimulant.

Preferential activation of Th2 cells in chronic graft-versus-host reaction.

The injection of DBA/2 parental lymphocytes into adult, immunologically intact (C57BL/6 x DBA/2) F1 hybrid mice results in a chronic graft-vs-host reaction (GVHR) characterized by a deficiency in CD4+ T cell functions and a B cell activation leading to autoantibody production. The discovery that distinct subpopulations of Th cells may regulate the effector immune functions led us to investigate whether the chronic GVHR differentially affects Th subsets. Data are presented indicating that mice undergoing a GVHR spontaneously produced lymphokines of Th2 origin. IL-4 and IL-10 mRNA were detected in the spleens of GVH mice, and IL-4 was shown to be responsible for the increased expression of class II Ag on B cells. Moreover, upon polyclonal activation in vitro, GVH T cells exhibited defective IL-2 and IFN-gamma production but elevated IL-4 production. We conclude that the chronic GVHR is characterized by a selective deficiency in cells secreting IL-2 and IFN-gamma and a hyperactivation of Th2 cells. The simultaneous production of IL-4 and IL-10 might explain the association between B cell hyperactivity and impairment of Th1-like activities in various models that associate autoimmunity and immunosuppression, such as GVHR and HIV infection.

T cell receptor gamma variable gene locus polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: We sought new susceptibility markers for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among the T cell receptor gamma (TCR gamma) genes. METHODS: We analyzed restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) of the first variable subgroup of TCR gamma genes in a group of French control subjects and a group of French RA patients. RESULTS: No significant difference in Eco RI RFLP was found between the 2 study populations: Allele frequencies were virtually identical. There was no polymorphism using Hind III. CONCLUSION: These results exclude TCRV gamma I polymorphism as a disease susceptibility marker in RA.

[Peripheral blood cells secreting specific antibodies after oral stimulation with a ribosomal vaccine]. / Cellules périphériques sécrétrices d'anticorps spécifiques après stimulation orale par un vaccin ribosomal.

This investigation was designed to investigate mechanisms underlying oral immunization in humans after ingestion of the ribosomal vaccine D53. Immunofluorescence and ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay) spot techniques were used for peripheral blood studies. The first part of the investigation was a double-blind placebo-controlled study of 12 healthy volunteers; counts of cells containing immunoglobulins and cells producing specific antibodies were higher in the individuals given the oral ribosomal vaccine than in the placebo-treated controls. In the second part of the investigation, analysis of the kinetics of apparition of the immunoglobulin-containing and specific antibody-producing cells suggested prompt stimulation of Peyer patch B lymphocytes following ingestion of the vaccine. Lastly, a study of 5 children given the vaccine on a long-term basis demonstrated increased counts of both above-described cell types after one month treatment.