Tumor lysis syndrome

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is an important metabolic disorder frequently encountered in the management of a variety of cancers including lymphoma, leukemia, and neuroblastoma. Delayed recognition can result in a variety of biochemical abnormalities resulting in life-threatening complications such as renal failure, arrhythmias, and seizures. Identification of high-risk patients and early recognition of the syndrome is crucial in the early institution of appropriate prophylaxis and treatment. Recent advances in the understanding of urate metabolism, development of new urate-lowering drugs, and the application of biomarkers, calculation methods, and prognostic models to identify high-risk patients will pave the way in improving the management of TLS. We included in this review the new information regarding the urate transporters URAT-1, organic anion transporter 1/3, and MRP4; the urate elimination pathway; a comparison of the old- (allopurinol, native uricase) and new- (febuxostat, Y-700, PEG-uricase, rasburicase) generation urate-lowering agents; and application of new biomarkers (cystatin-C, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, kidney injury molecule 1), estimated glomerular filtration rate and calculation methods (modification of diet in renal disease and prognostic model (Penn Predictive Score of Tumor Lysis Syndrome) in the identification of high-risk patients, and alternative unexplored mechanisms (asymmetric dimethylarginine and adenosine) to explain renal injury related to TLS.     

Cell-based two-region competition algorithm with a map framework for boundary delineation of a series of 2D ultrasound images

To ensure the delineated boundaries of a series of 2-D images closely following the visually perceivable edges with high boundary coherence between consecutive slices, a cell-based two-region competition algorithm based on a maximum a posteriori (MAP) framework is proposed. It deforms the region boundary in a cell-by-cell fashion through a cell-based two-region competition process. The cell-based deformation is guided by a cell-based MAP framework with a posterior function characterizing the distribution of the cell means in each region, the salience and shape complexity of the region boundary and the boundary coherence of the consecutive slices. The proposed algorithm has been validated using 10 series of breast sonograms, including seven compression series and three freehand series. The compression series contains two carcinoma and five fibroadenoma cases and the freehand series contains two carcinoma and one fibroadenoma cases. The results show that >70% of the derived boundaries fall within the span of the manually delineated boundaries. The robustness of the proposed algorithm to the variation of regions-of-interest is confirmed by the Friedman tests and the p-values of which are 0.517 and 0.352 for the compression and freehand series groups, respectively. The Pearson's correlations between the lesion sizes derived by the proposed algorithm and those defined by the average manually delineated boundaries are all higher than 0.990. The overlapping and difference ratios between the derived boundaries and the average manually delineated boundaries are mostly higher than 0.90 and lower than 0.13, respectively. For both series groups, all assessments conclude that the boundaries derived by the proposed algorithm be comparable to those delineated manually. Moreover, it is shown that the proposed algorithm is superior to the Chan and Vese level set method based on the paired-sample t-tests on the performance indices at a 5% significance level.     

Expression of an enzymatically active parasite molecule in Escherichia coli: Schistosoma japonicum glutathione S-transferase

The NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the Mr 26 000 glutathione S-transferase (EC 2.5.1.18) of Schistosoma japonicum (Sj26) has been deduced by RNA and protein sequence analysis. Using this information, a bacterial plasmid has been constructed that directs the synthesis of the entire Sj26 molecule in Escherichia coli. Recombinant Sj26 exhibits glutathione S-transferase activity and can be readily purified from bacteria in a one-step procedure under non-denaturing conditions. The availability of recombinant Sj26 in essentially unlimited quantities will aid its assessment as a candidate vaccine molecule in schistosomiasis and could eventually lead to the rational design of a drug targetted on schistosome glutathione S-transferases.