Ablation of the great saphenous vein with F-care versus Closurefast endovenous radiofrequency therapy: Double-blinded prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: F-care (endovenous radiofrequency, F Care Systems, Antwerp, Belgium) is a relatively new radiofrequency ablation technique for the treatment of venous insufficiency. There is a lack of published data about F-care in literature. This study aimed to prospectively compare the F-care method with conventional endovenous radiofrequency ablation Closurefast method for the management of incompetent great saphenous veins. METHODS: Between June 2015 and December 2018, 114 patients with incompetent varicose veins were treated either with the F-care or Closurefast. The pre-, intra-, postprocedural, and follow-up data of the patients were collected and prospectively compared. RESULTS: The average ablated vein length was 23.1 ± 4 cm in the F-care group and 26.6 ± 4 cm in the Closurefast group (P = 0.01). The average procedure time was 17.4 ± 4 min (range: 10-30 min) in the F-care group, and 17.1 ± 3 min (range: 11-27 min) in the Closurefast group (P = 0.77). The one-month total occlusion rates in the F-care and Closurefast groups were 96.2% and 98.1%, respectively (P = 0.5). The one-year full occlusion rates in the F-care and Closurefast groups were 71.7% and 90.6%, respectively (P = 0.013). In both the F-care and Closurefast groups, the venous clinical severity scores declined significantly with no difference between groups. There was no significant difference between adverse events following F-care treatment compared with Closurefast treatment (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The F-care system was as safe and fast, but the one-year closure rate was significantly lower when compared to the other method. There was no significant difference between the adverse effects of both approaches. Further large-scale, multi-center prospective studies with long-term outcomes are required to identify the effectiveness of F-care treatment modality for patients with saphenous vein insufficiency.

Measles virus enhances the expression of cellular immediate-early genes and DNA-binding of transcription factor AP-1 in lung epithelial A549 cells.

In this work we investigated the effect of measles virus (MV) infection on the expression of immediate-early genes junB, c-jun and c-fos mRNA as well as AP-1 DNA-binding activity in the lung epithelial-like adenocarcinoma cell line A549. The transcription factor AP-1, which is a group of dimeric complexes of the Fos and Jun family proteins, is an important regulator in many cellular responses to different extracellular stimuli. Membrane cofactor protein CD46, which acts as a receptor for laboratory-adapted and vaccine strains of MV, has been reported to associate with beta1 integrin molecules, which are known to trigger signaling events and activate immediate-early genes. The expression of junB and c-jun mRNA was rapidly induced by MV. It was observed already at 1 h postinfection and detected again at the later phase of infection. Moreover, the expression of c-fos mRNA seemed to be weak and transient. The early induction was apparently associated with MV binding and CD46 clustering, whereas the later induction coincided with virus replication. MV infection also enhanced the activation of AP-1 DNA-binding. Our results suggest that changes in the expression of immediate-early genes and in the activation of AP-1 DNA-binding may have an important role in many cellular events detected in MV-infected cells.

Measles virus activates NF-kappa B and STAT transcription factors and production of IFN-alpha/beta and IL-6 in the human lung epithelial cell line A549.

Epithelial cells of the respiratory tract are the primary targets of measles virus (MV) infection. In this work we have studied the effect of MV infection on the activation of transcription factors nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and the production of cytokines in the lung epithelial A549 cell line. NF-kappa B and STAT activation were induced by MV in A549 cells as analyzed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. NF-kappa B activation was rapid and it was not inhibited by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, suggesting that MV directly activates NF-kappa B. In contrast, Stat1, Stat3, and interferon-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) DNA binding was induced by MV infection with delayed kinetics compared to NF-kappa B activation. MV infection also resulted in an efficient interferon (IFN)-alpha/beta and interleukin-6 production. Cycloheximide and neutralizing anti-IFN-alpha/beta antibodies inhibited MV-induced activation of Stat1, Stat3, and ISGF3 DNA binding in A549 cells. In conclusion, the results suggest that MV infection activates transcription factors involved in the initiation of innate immune responses in epithelial cells by two different mechanisms: directly by leading to NF-kappa B activation and indirectly via IFN-alpha/beta leading to STAT activation.

A reduced estimate of the number of kilometre-sized near-Earth asteroids.

Near-Earth asteroids are small (diameters < 10 km), rocky bodies with orbits that approach that of the Earth (they come within 1.3 AU of the Sun). Most have a chance of approximately 0.5% of colliding with the Earth in the next million years. The total number of such bodies with diameters > 1 km has been estimated to be in the range 1,000-2,000, which translates to an approximately 1% chance of a catastrophic collision with the Earth in the next millennium. These numbers are, however, poorly constrained because of the limitations of previous searches using photographic plates. (One kilometre is below the size of a body whose impact on the Earth would produce global effects.) Here we report an analysis of our survey for near-Earth asteroids that uses improved detection technologies. We find that the total number of asteroids with diameters > 1 km is about half the earlier estimates. At the current rate of discovery of near-Earth asteroids, 90% will probably have been detected within the next 20 years.

Measles virus replication in cells of myelomonocytic lineage is dependent on cellular differentiation stage.

Measles virus (MV)-infected monocytes may have a central role in virus-induced immunosuppression. Our understanding of MV replication in monocytic cells is, however, incomplete. In this work we have investigated MV replication in cells of human myelomonocytic lineage with different maturation stages in order to study the effect of cellular maturation on virus infection. MV was able to infect human bone marrow myeloid granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (CFC-GM) as well as monocytes and macrophages, but the replication cycle seemed to be regulated by the maturation stage of the cells. Virus infection in CFC-GM was productive, unlike in monocytes and macrophages, where an extensive viral RNA synthesis occurred and high amounts of proteins were synthesised without a remarkable release of infectious virus. Efficiency of viral macromolecular synthesis in macrophages was comparable to that of promonocytic cell line U-937 and human epithelial cell line A549, but in contrast to macrophages the cell lines highly supported productive infection. On the other hand, chemically induced maturation of the human promyelocytic and promonocytic cell lines HL-60, THP-1, and U-937 to more mature macrophage-like forms did not markedly alter the replication cycle of MV in these cell lines. Our results showed that MV replication in myelomonocytic cells varied depending on the maturation stage of the cells. The immature myelomonocytic cells supported productive virus infection, but the maturation process lead to cellular changes that caused a restriction of MV replication cycle partly at posttranscriptional and partly at posttranslational level. The metabolic milieu of monocytes and macrophages as such was sufficient to support extensive viral macromolecular synthesis.

Hubble space telescope observations of comet p/shoemaker-levy 9 (1993e).

The Hubble Space Telescope observed the fragmented comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (1993e) (P indicates that it is a periodic comet) on 1 July 1993. Approximately 20 individual nuclei and their comae were observed in images taken with the Planetary Camera. After subtraction of the comae light, the 11 brightest nuclei have magnitudes between approximately 23.7 and 24.8. Assuming that the geometric albedo is 0.04, these magnitudes imply that the nuclear diameters are in the range approximately 2.5 to 4.3 kilometers. If the density of each nucleus is 1 gram per cubic centimeter, the total energy deposited by the impact of these 11 nuclei into Jupiter's atmosphere next July will be approximately 4 x 10(30) ergs ( approximately 10(8) megatons of TNT). This latter number should be regarded as an upper limit because the nuclear magnitudes probably contain a small residual coma contribution. The Faint Object Spectrograph was used to search for fluorescence from OH, which is usually an excellent indicator of cometary activity. No OH emission was detected, and this can be translated into an upper limit on the water production rate of approximately 2 x 10(27) molecules per second.