Chondroma of the cheek: A case report

An extremely rare case of soft tissue chondroma occurring in the right cheek of a 47-year-old woman is reported. The localized nodular tumor was encapsulated and composed of hyalinized cartilage with fine calcifications. Most tumor cells were positive for vimentin and S-100 protein, but negative for cytokeratin, factor VIII, and smooth muscle actin. It seems likely that the tumor cells arise from uncommitted mesenchymal stem cells by metaplastic process.     

Bunina bodies in motor and non‐motor neurons revisited: A pathological study of an ALS patient after long‐term survival on a respirator

Bunina bodies (BBs) are small eosinophilic neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCIs) found in the remaining lower motor neurons (LMNs) of patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS), being a specific feature of the cellular pathology. We examined a case of SALS, unassociated with TDP‐43 or C9ORF72 mutation, of 12 years duration in a 75‐year‐old man, who had received artificial respiratory support for 9 years, and showed widespread multisystem degeneration with TDP‐43 pathology. Interestingly, in this patient, many NCIs reminiscent of BBs were observed in the oculomotor nucleus, medullary reticular formation and cerebellar dentate nucleus. As BBs in the cerebellar dentate nucleus have not been previously described, we performed ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies of these NCIs to gain further insight into the nature of BBs. In each region, the ultrastructural features of these NCIs were shown to be identical to those of BBs previously described in LMNs. These three regions and the relatively well preserved sacral anterior horns (S1 and S2) and facial motor nucleus were immunostained with antibodies against cystatin C (CC) and TDP‐43. Importantly, it was revealed that BBs exhibiting immunoreactivity for CC were a feature of LMNs, but not of non‐motor neurons, and that in the cerebellar dentate nucleus, the ratio of neurons with BBs and TDP‐43 inclusions/neurons with BBs was significantly lower than in other regions. These findings suggest that the occurrence of BBs with CC immunoreactivity is intrinsically associated with the particular cellular properties of LMNs, and that the mechanism responsible for the formation of BBs is distinct from that for TDP‐43 inclusions.     

水飞蓟素在去血清条件下诱导G0/G1期人宫颈癌HeLa细胞凋亡

背景宫颈癌是危害女性身体健康,降低生活质量的疾病之一.利用中药治疗宫颈癌,降低放射治疗、应用抗肿瘤药物治疗副作用对机体伤害已成为医药界的研究热点.在欧洲,水飞蓟素曾广泛用于临床的肝炎治疗.它毒性小,在植物中含量高.因此,一些学者正在研究其抗肿瘤的活性.目的探讨水飞蓟素对人子宫颈癌细胞的药理作用机制.设计以体外10%血清正常培养的细胞作为阴性对照的实验对照研究.单位沈阳药科大学中日医药研究所,昭和药科大学病态科学教研室.材料人的宫颈癌HeLa细胞为本实验室保存的美国ATCC细胞系.实验于2003-02/07在沈阳药科大学中日医药研究所细胞室完成.方法噻唑蓝还原法(MTT)分析HeLa细胞的死亡率.采用相差和荧光显微镜观察细胞形态学改变.用流式细胞术分析了细胞周期的变化.主要观察指标细胞死亡率和细胞周期分化的变化.结果水飞蓟素诱导的HeLa细胞死亡与培养液中血清含量有关.给予80 μmol/L的水飞蓟素作用,去血清组的细胞死亡率达到85.27%,含5%,10%血清组的死亡率为35.53%,7.71%.细胞的形态学变化表明水飞蓟素诱导的HeLa细胞发生凋亡.流式细胞分析结果显示水飞蓟素诱导70.04%的细胞发生凋亡,这些凋亡细胞主要来自G0/G1期.结论水飞蓟素在去血清条件下,诱导处于G0/G1期的HeLa细胞发生凋亡.     

Clinical usefulness of cell-free and concentrated ascites reinfusion therapy (CART) in combination with chemotherapy for malignant ascites: a post-marketing surveillance study

International Journal of Clinical Oncology - Cell-free and concentrated ascites reinfusion therapy (CART) has been suggested to be able to treat malignant ascites more safely and effectively with...     

Basiliximab treatment for steroid‐resistant rejection in pediatric patients following liver transplantation for acute liver failure

An IL‐2 receptor antagonist, basiliximab, decreases the frequency of ACR in liver transplant (LT) recipients as induction therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of basiliximab against SRR as rescue therapy in pediatric LT patients with ALF. Forty pediatric ALF patients underwent LT between November 2005 and July 2013. Among them, seven patients suffering from SRR were enrolled in this study. The median age at LT was 10 months (6–12 months). SRR was defined as the occurrence of refractory rejection after more than two courses of steroid pulse therapy. Basiliximab was administered to all patients. The withdrawal of steroids without deterioration of the liver function was achieved in six patients treated with basiliximab therapy without patient mortality, although one patient developed graft loss and required retransplantation for veno‐occlusive disease. The pathological examinations of liver biopsies in the patients suffering from SRR revealed severe centrilobular injuries, particularly fibrosis within one month after LT. We demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of rescue therapy consisting of basiliximab for SRR in pediatric LT recipients with ALF.     

Potent vaccine therapy with dendritic cells genetically modified by the gene-silencing-resistant retroviral vector GCDNsap.

Dendritic cells (DCs) genetically modified to express tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) would be promising tools in cancer immunotherapy. However, the use of retroviral vectors for such modifications is still a challenge because of low transduction efficiency and gene silencing in DCs. We have established an efficient method to prepare such DCs by in vitro differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells transduced with chicken ovalbumin (OVA) cDNA via the gene-silencing-resistant retroviral vector GCDNsap packaged in vesicular stomatitis virus G protein. When c-KIT(+)/lineage(-) cells were transduced with OVA followed by expansion and differentiation, more than 90% of mature DCs expressed the transgene. Mice inoculated with those cells completely rejected the OVA-expressing tumor E.G7-OVA, and the anti-tumor effects were stronger than those observed in mice inoculated with the same number of OVA peptide-pulsed DCs. The mice harbored more cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against E.G7-OVA and produced antibody against OVA, suggesting the generation of multiple CTLs recognizing different OVA epitopes and OVA-specific CD4(+) T cells. Successive inoculations of the transduced DCs in a therapeutic setting eradicated preexisting E.G7-OVA and prevented the progression of retransplanted tumors. Thus, this vaccine therapy may represent a potent immunotherapeutic approach for various malignant tumors that express suitable TAAs.     

Role of ankle mobility in foot rollover during gait in individuals with diabetic neuropathy

Background

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ankle range of motion during neuropathic gait and its influence on plantar pressure distribution in two phases during stance: at heel–strike and at push-off.

Methods

Thirty-one adults participated in this study (control group, n = 16; diabetic neuropathic group, n = 15). Dynamic ankle range of motion (electrogoniometer) and plantar pressures (PEDAR-X system) were acquired synchronously during walking. Plantar pressures were evaluated at rearfoot, midfoot and forefoot during the two phases of stance. General linear model repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to investigate relationships between groups, areas and stance phases.

Findings

Diabetic neuropathy patients walked using a smaller ankle range of motion in stance phase and smaller ankle flexion at heel–strike (P = 0.0005). Peak pressure and pressure–time integral values were higher in the diabetic group in the midfoot at push-off phase when compared to heel–strike phase. On the other hand, the control group showed similar values of peak pressure in midfoot during both stance phases.

Interpretation

The ankle mobility reduction observed could be associated to altered plantar pressure distribution observed in neuropathic subjects. Results demonstrated that midfoot and forefoot play a different role in subjects with neuropathy by receiving higher loads at push-off phase that are probably due to smaller ankle flexion at stance phase. This may explain the higher loads in anterior areas of the foot observed in diabetic neuropathy subjects and confirm an inadequate foot rollover associated to the smaller ankle range of motion at the heel–strike phase.