Reversal of steroid-induced lipoatrophy with serial injections of isotonic saline in a child.

The problem of side-effects of injectable corticosteroids has gradually become more acute with rampant and unlimited misuse of the drug, particularly by non-dermatologists. Serial saline injections at the site of steroid-induced lipoatrophy in a child served as a safe, relatively rapid, and cost-effective solution.

Estimating within-flock transmission rate parameter for H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in Minnesota turkey flocks during the 2015 epizootic.

Better control of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks requires deeper understanding of within-flock virus transmission dynamics. For such fatal diseases, daily mortality provides a proxy for disease incidence. We used the daily mortality data collected during the 2015 H5N2 HPAI outbreak in Minnesota turkey flocks to estimate the within-flock transmission rate parameter (ß). The number of birds in Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious and Recovered compartments was inferred from the data and used in a generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) to estimate the parameters. Novel here was the correction of these data for normal mortality before use in the fitting process. We also used mortality threshold to determine HPAI-like mortality to improve the accuracy of estimates from the back-calculation approach. The estimated ß was 3.2 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3-4.3) per day with a basic reproduction number of 12.8 (95% CI 9.2-17.2). Although flock-level estimates varied, the overall estimate was comparable to those from other studies. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the estimated ß was highly sensitive to the bird-level latent period, emphasizing the need for its precise estimation. In all, for fatal poultry diseases, the back-calculation approach provides a computationally efficient means to obtain reasonable transmission parameter estimates from mortality data.

A Facile Synthesis, In vitro Antiinflammatory and Antioxidant activity of Novel Benzimidazolylpyrano[2,3-d][1,3]thiazolocarbonitriles.

The synthesis benzimidazolylpyrano [2,3-d] [1,3] thiazolocarbonitriles (5a-j) were achieved by cyclocondensation of arylidene amino-benzo[d]imidazole-2-thiols (3a-j) with mercaptoacetic acid followed by cyclization with 2-(phenylmethylene)malononitrile. Further more, the present study aimed at the evaluation of in vitro antiinflammatory activity and antioxidant activity of synthetic compounds. All tested compounds showed appreciable activity against the standard drugs.

Disseminated nocardiosis in an advanced AIDS patient.

Nocardiosis is often misdiagnosed as tuberculosis in patients with HIV, as both diseases have similar manifestations. We describe the successful management of a case of advanced AIDS with disseminated Nocardial infection due to N. asteroides. Nocardial infection needs to be suspected in a patient with HIV infection when there is chest radiographic abnormality and when thrice sputum microscopy for acid fast bacilli is negative.

Gamma ray induced genetic changes in different organs of chick embryo using peripheral blood micronucleus test and comet assay.

Ionizing radiation is known to produce a variety of cellular and sub cellular damage in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Present studies were undertaken to assess gamma ray induced DNA damage in different organs of the chick embryo using alkaline comet assay and peripheral blood micronucleus test. Further the suitability of chick embryo, as an alternative model for genotoxicity evaluation of environmental agents was assessed. Fertilized eggs of Rhode island red strain were exposed to 0.5, 1 and 2Gy of gamma rays delivered at a dose rate of 0.316Gy/min using a (60)Co teletherapy machine. Peripheral blood smears were prepared from 8- to 11-day-old chick embryos for micronucleus test. Alkaline comet assay was performed on 11-day-old chick embryos in different organs such as the heart, liver, lung, blood, bone marrow, brain and kidney. Analysis of the data revealed a significant increase in the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes, micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes and total micronucleated erythrocytes in the peripheral blood of gamma irradiated chick embryos at all the doses tested as compared to the respective controls. The polychromatic to normochromatic erythrocytes ratio which is an indicator of proliferation rate of hematopoetic tissue, decreased in the irradiated groups as compared to the controls. Data obtained from comet assay, clearly demonstrated a significant increase in DNA strand breaks in all the organs of irradiated chick embryos as compared to the respective controls. However, maximum damage was observed in the heart tissue on all the doses tested, followed by kidney, brain, lung, blood and liver. The lowest damage was observed in the bone marrow tissue. Both micronucleus test and comet assay were found to be suitable biomarkers for the evaluation of genotoxicity of gamma radiation in the chick embryo.

Chylous ascites after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.

Laparoscopic living-donor nephrectomy has decreased the disincentives to live renal donation with a risk of complications similar to that of open donor nephrectomy. We report a patient who developed chylous ascites after an otherwise-uneventful laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. On MEDLINE search, we could find only two other cases with similar complications. This condition has the potential to cause significant morbidity in the donor, which may reduce the advantages of the minimally invasive approach. We suggest that meticulous dissection of the renal hilum and clipping of lymphatic tissue around the renal vessels could prevent this untoward complication.

Rapid upregulation of caspase-3 in rat spinal cord after injury: mRNA, protein, and cellular localization correlates with apoptotic cell death.

Although the precise mechanisms explaining loss of, and failure to regain, function after spinal cord injury are unknown, there is increasing interest in the role of "secondary cell death." One prevalent theme in cell loss in other regions of the CNS involves apoptosis executed by the intracellular caspase proteases. A recent study demonstrated that spinal cord injury rapidly increased the activation of caspase-3. Our previous studies demonstrated peak apoptosis in three of four cellular compartments 3 days after controlled contusion in the rat. We have extended these analyses to include enzyme and substrate studies of caspase subfamilies both in rostral and in caudal adjacent segments compared to the lesion site. Although presumed activation of programmed proenzyme is considered the mechanism for enhanced caspases, our novel analyses were designed to detect upregulation of gene expression. We surveyed traumatically injured spinal cord for caspase family messages with a modified differential mRNA display approach and found that the caspase-3 (CASP3) message was present and upregulated severalfold after injury. Our results clearly demonstrate that cell death in the spinal cord occurs after posttranslational activation of caspases that follow, at least for caspase-3, initial upregulation of CASP3 mRNA levels.

Update of the Human MitBASE database.

Human MitBASE is a database collecting human mtDNA variants. This database is part of a greater mitochondrial genome database (MitBASE) funded within the EU Biotech Program. The present paper reports the recent improvements in data structure, data quality and data quantity. As far as the database structure is concerned it is now fully designed and implemented. Based on the previously described structure some changes have been made to optimise both data input and data quality. Cross-references with other bio-databases (EMBL, OMIM, MEDLINE) have been implemented. Human MitBASE data can be queried with the MitBASE Simple Query System (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/htbin/Mitbase/mit base.pl) and with SRS at the EBI under the 'Mutation' section (http://srs.ebi.ac.uk/srs5/). At present the HumanMitBASE node contains approximately 5000 variants related to studies investigating population polymorphisms and pathologies.

MitBASE pilot: a database on nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and its regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In the framework of the EU BIOTECH PROGRAM and within the 'MITBASE: a comprehensive and integrated database on mtDNA' project, we have prepared a pilot database (MitBASE Pilot) on nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and its regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. MitBASE Pilot includes nuclear genes encoding mitochondrial proteins as well as nuclear genes encoding products which are localised in other sub-cellular compartments but nevertheless interact with mitochondrial functions. Genes have been classified on the basis of the mitochondrial process in which they participate and the mitochondrial phenotype of the gene knockout. The structure of the MitBASE Pilot database has been conceived for a flexible organisation of the information. An intuitive visual query system has been developed which allows users to select information in different combinations, both in the query and the output format, according to their needs. MitBASE Pilot is a relational database, is maintained at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and is available at the World Wide Web site http://www3.ebi.ac. uk/Research/Mitbase/mitbiog.pl

Vertebrate MitBASE: a specialised database on vertebrate mitochondrial DNA sequences.

Vertebrate MitBASE is a specialized database where all the vertebrate mitochondrial DNA entries from primary databases are collected, revised and integrated with new information emerging from the literature. Variant sequences are also analyzed, aligned and linked to reference sequences. Data related to the same species and fragment can be viewed over the WWW. The database has a flexible interface and a retrieval system to help non-expert users and contains information not currently available in the primary databases. Vertebrate MitBASE is now available through the MitBASE home page at URL: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/htbin/Mitbase/mitb ase.pl. This work is part of a larger project, MitBASE which is a network of databases covering the full panorama of knowledge on mitochondrial DNA from protists to human sequences.