Thymoglobulin Versus Basiliximab Induction Therapy in Low-Risk Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Single-Center Experience.

BACKGROUND: The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines recommend that T-cell-depleting agents should be used only for kidney transplant (KT) recipients at high immunologic risk. However, the effects of thymoglobulin induction therapy in low-immunologic risk KT recipients on tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid, and steroid have not been elucidated yet. METHODS: We retrospectively collected 6 months postoperative clinical data, for low-immunologic risk KT recipients at Soonchunhyang University Hospital. Recipients were divided into thymoglobulin and basiliximab groups, based on the induction agent used. Low-immunologic risk recipients were defined as those with panel-reactive antibody level <30% at the time of kidney transplantation. The incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection and borderline change was compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Of the 46 low-immunologic risk patients, 25 received thymoglobulin. The incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection was 0% (n = 0) and that of borderline change was 8% (n = 2) in the thymoglobulin group. The basiliximab group had a significantly higher incidence of rejection (23.8%; n = 5; P = .015) and borderline change (42.9%; n = 9; P = .006). No significant difference in estimated glomerular filtration rate was found between the two groups at 6 months after kidney transplantation. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurred more frequently in the thymoglobulin group than in the basiliximab group. All patients with CMV infection in both groups were effectively treated with pre-emptive intravenous ganciclovir therapy. CONCLUSIONS: In low-immunologic risk KT recipients who received tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid, and steroid therapy, thymoglobulin induction therapy significantly reduced the incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection and borderline change compared with basiliximab induction therapy.

Simultaneous determination of water-soluble whitening ingredients and adenosine in different cosmetic formulations by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection.

OBJECTIVE: The Korean Cosmetic Act regulates the use of functional cosmetics) by the law. Four functional cosmetic groups, whitening, anti-wrinkle, UV protection and combination of whitening and anti-wrinkle, were categorized according to the Korean Cosmetic Act and Functional Cosmetics Codex. In this study, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with photodiode array detection (DAD) was employed for the simultaneous detection of arbutin (and its decomposition product, hydroquinone), niacinamide, ascorbyl glucoside, ethyl ascorbyl ether and adenosine in functional cosmetic products such as creams, emulsions and lotions. METHODS: Separation by HPLC-DAD was conducted using a C18 column with a gradient elution of 5 mm KH2PO4 buffer (containing 0.1% phosphoric acid) and methanol (containing 0.1% phosphoric acid). The wavelengths for the detection of arbutin, hydroquinone, niacinamide, adenosine, ascorbyl glucoside and ethyl ascorbyl ether were 283, 289, 261, 257, 238 and 245 nm, respectively. RESULTS: This method exhibited good linearity (R(2) ≥ 0.999), precision (expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) < 2%) and mean recoveries (89.42-104.89%). The results obtained by monitoring 100 market samples showed that the detected levels of the tested materials are within the acceptable authorized concentration. CONCLUSION: The method developed herein is simple and can be used for market survey and quality control of functional cosmetics.

In vitro models of the metastatic cascade: from local invasion to extravasation.

A crucial event in the metastatic cascade is the extravasation of circulating cancer cells from blood capillaries to the surrounding tissues. The past 5 years have been characterized by a significant evolution in the development of in vitro extravasation models, which moved from traditional transmigration chambers to more sophisticated microfluidic devices, enabling the study of complex cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in multicellular, controlled environments. These advanced assays could be applied to screen easily and rapidly a broad spectrum of molecules inhibiting cancer cell endothelial adhesion and extravasation, thus contributing to the design of more focused in vivo tests.

Transgenic rice plants expressing a Bacillus subtilis protoporphyrinogen oxidase gene are resistant to diphenyl ether herbicide oxyfluorfen.

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (Protox), the penultimate step enzyme of the branch point for the biosynthetic pathway of Chl and hemes, is the target site of action of diphenyl ether (DPE) herbicides. However, Bacillus subtilis Protox is known to be resistant to the herbicides. In order to develop the herbicide-resistant plants, the transgenic rice plants were generated via expression of B. subtilis Protox gene under ubiquitin promoter targeted to the cytoplasm or to the plastid using Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation. The integration and expression of the transgene were investigated at T0 generation by DNA and RNA blots. Most transgenic rice plants revealed one copy transgene insertion into the rice genome, but some with 3 copies. The expression levels of B. subtilis Protox mRNA appeared to correlate with the copy number. Furthermore, the plastidal transgenic lines exhibited much higher expression of the Protox mRNA than the cytoplasmic transgenic lines. The transgenic plants expressing the B. subtilis Protox gene at T0 generation were found to be resistant to oxyfluorfen when judged by cellular damage with respect to cellular leakage, Chl loss, and lipid peroxidation. The transgenic rice plants targeted to the plastid exhibited higher resistance to the herbicide than the transgenic plants targeted to the cytoplasm. In addition, possible resistance mechanisms in the transgenic plants to DPE herbicides are discussed.

leafy hull sterile1 is a homeotic mutation in a rice MADS box gene affecting rice flower development.

Rice contains several MADS box genes. It has been demonstrated previously that one of these genes, OsMADS1 (for Oryza sativa MADS box gene1), is expressed preferentially in flowers and causes early flowering when ectopically expressed in tobacco plants. In this study, we demonstrated that ectopic expression of OsMADS1 in rice also results in early flowering. To further investigate the role of OsMADS1 during rice flower development, we generated transgenic rice plants expressing altered OsMADS1 genes that contain missense mutations in the MADS domain. There was no visible alteration in the transgenic plants during the vegetative stage. However, transgenic panicles typically exhibited phenotypic alterations, including spikelets consisting of elongated leafy paleae and lemmas that exhibit a feature of open hull, two pairs of leafy palea-like and lemma-like lodicules, a decrease in stamen number, and an increase in the number of carpels. In addition, some spikelets generated an additional floret from the same rachilla. These characteristics are very similar to those of leafy hull sterile1 (lhs1). The map position of OsMADS1 is closely linked to that of lhs1 on chromosome 3. Examination of lhs1 revealed that it contains two missense mutations in the OsMADS1 MADS domain. A genetic complementation experiment showed that the 11.9-kb genomic DNA fragment containing the wild-type OsMADS1 gene rescued the mutant phenotypes. In addition, ectopic expression of the OsMADS1 gene isolated from the lhs1 line resulted in lhs1-conferred phenotypes. These lines of evidence demonstrate that OsMADS1 is the lhs1 gene.

Simple bone cyst of the axis.

A 12-year-old girl presented with a 1-month history of posterior neck pain and a large cyst in the second cervical vertebra. She underwent complete curettage of the cyst wall without any kind of bone graft, and the surgical result was good. Microscopic findings in the cyst wall were consistent with simple bone cyst, which is very rare in the spine.

A case of bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia associated with adenovirus.

A 58-year-old man described a short history of dyspnea and a preceding flu like illness with roentgenographic features of an interstitial lung disease. An open lung biopsy specimen from him showed bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP). Adenovirus was isolated from a throat swab. There was both clinical and radiographic improvement with supportive care. We herein report a first case of BOOP associated with adenovirus in Korea.

Sclerosis of hepatic cavernous hemangioma: CT findings and pathologic correlation.

We report a case of hepatic cavernous hemangioma with computed tomographic findings of well demarcated nodular lesser attenuation foci within the main low attenuation mass on precontrast scans and non-enhancement of the foci even on the delayed contrast scans. These have been described as one of the atypical findings of cavernous hemangioma earlier in the literature. Surgery proved that sclerosis accounted for the hypodense nodular densities within the hepatic cavernous hemangioma.

Circulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) in sera of patients with Graves' disease and Hashimoto disease.

OBJECTIVES: Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), a 80-110 kD glycoprotein, has been found to be a ligand for the lymphocyte function associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) molecule and has important roles in inflammatory and immune mediated mechanisms. ICAM-1 is expressed on thyroid follicular cells of patients with Hashimoto disease and cultured thyroid monolayer cells derived from the thyroid surgical specimen. In addition to the expression of ICAM-1 on the surface of cells, soluble variants of several adhesion molecules have been reported. METHODS: We evaluated the circulating ICAM-1 in sera of representative autoimmune thyroid disease, Hashimoto and Graves' disease, and analyzed correlations between circulating ICAM-1 and thyroid-directed autoantibodies. Sera were collected from 58 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, 28 patients with Graves' disease and 30 patients with Hashimoto disease. Serum concentrations for circulating ICAM-1 were determined with sandwitch enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS: Compared with normal individuals, mean serum concentrations for circulating ICAM-1 were significantly elevated in patients with Hashimoto disease and antithyroperoxidase-positive Graves' disease. Patients with antithyroperoxidase-positive Graves' disease revealed significantly higher serum circulating ICAM-1 concentrations than antithyroperoxidase-negative Graves' disease. Circulating ICAM-1 showed significant positive correlation with serum titers of antithyroglobulin and antithyroperoxidase antibody (r = 0.44, n = 28, p = 0.009, and r = 0.55, n = 28, p = 0.001 respectively). There was a significant positive correlation between circulating ICAM-1 levels and serum antithyroperoxidase level in the group of autoimmune thyroid disease and also circulating ICAM-1 levels were significantly correlated with serum antithyroperoxidase antibody levels in antithyroperoxidase antibody-positive Graves' disease(r = 0.55, n = 28, p = 0.001) and in Hashimoto disease (r = 0.5, n = 30, p = 0.002). The thyrotropin binding inhibiting immunoglobulins(TBII) showed no significant correlation with circulating ICAM-1 levels. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, high serum levels of ICAM-1 were associated with autoimmune thyroid disease. Graves' disease and Hashimoto disease and positively correlates with levels of antithyroperoxidase antibody.