Culture-Proven Candida Albicans Endogenous Endophthalmitis in a Patient with Onychomycosis

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To report a case of Candida albicans endogenous endophthalmitis in an immunocompetent patient with onychomycosis.

Methods: Retrospective case report.

Results: A 40-year-old man with onychomycosis presented with C. albicans subretinal abscess in the left eye. Systemic and intravitreal injections did not prevent further progression of the infection. The patient underwent pars plana vitrectomy. One month after surgery, the intraocular inflammation gradually subsided. However, his visual acuity stayed at counting fingers as a result of macular scarring.

Conclusion: The aim of this case presentation is to emphasize that endogenous fungal endophthalmitis can be seen in an immunocompetent patient. The use of systemic steroids in the past was the main reason for the progression of the disease in this case. In these situations, when the clinical findings suggest a fungal etiology, it should keep in mind that endogenous candida endophthalmitis can be a result of fungal infections from distant sites such as the toenails and systemic steroids should not be started before definite diagnosis.     

无创产前检测联合孕妇血清可溶性转铁蛋白受体、生长分化因子-15、红细胞体积分布宽度变异系数检测对胎儿β-地中海贫血的诊断价值研究

目的探讨无创产前检测(NIPT)联合孕妇血清可溶性转铁蛋白受体(sTfR)、生长分化因子(GDF)-15、红细胞体积分布宽度变异系数(RDW-CV)检测，对胎儿β-地中海贫血的诊断价值。 方法选择2017年1月至2018年6月，于自贡市妇幼保健院接受羊膜腔穿刺术确诊胎儿为β-地中海贫血的120例孕妇为研究对象。根据其妊娠胎儿的β-地中海贫血轻、中、重型，将其分别纳入轻型组(n＝48)、中型组(n＝40)与重型组(n＝32)。选取同期于本院建卡进行常规产前检查，并且妊娠胎儿发育正常的100例健康孕妇作为对照，纳入对照组。采集4组孕妇空腹肘静脉血，提取孕妇外周血浆中胎儿细胞外游离DNA(cfDNA)，采用2次PCR方法扩增后，采用反向斑点杂交方法检测胎儿β-地中海贫血基因。采用酶联免疫吸附测定法，测定4组孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平。对4组孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15与RDW-CV水平分别总体比较，采用单因素方差分析，进一步两两比较，采用最小显著性差异(LSD)-t检验。与胎儿β-地中海贫血诊断"金标准"比较，计算NIPT联合孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平及这4项指标单独检测，对于胎儿β-地中海贫血诊断的敏感度、特异度、粗符合率、阳性预测值、阴性预测值。本研究严格按照2013年修订的《世界医学协会赫尔辛基宣言》要求进行。4组孕妇年龄及其妊娠胎儿的胎龄等一般临床资料比较，差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05)。 结果①夫妻双方β-地中海贫血基因型相同的40例孕妇中，NIPT与羊膜腔穿刺术对于胎儿β-地中海贫血诊断的符合率为90.0%(36/40)；夫妻双方β-地中海贫血基因型不同的80例孕妇中，上述2种方法对于胎儿β-地中海贫血诊断的符合率亦为90. 0%(72/80)。②4组孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平分别总体比较，差异均有统计学意义(F＝2 283.445、323.181、45.900，P均<0.001)，进一步两两比较，任意2组孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平比较，差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05)，并且孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平随着β-地中海贫血胎儿严重程度增加而逐渐升高。③NIPT联合孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平检测，对于胎儿β-地中海贫血诊断的敏感度、特异度、粗符合率、阳性预测值与阴性预测值，分别为86.7%、88.0%、87.3%、86.7%与84.6%，其特异度与阳性预测值，均显著高于单独检测孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平，并且差异均有统计学意义(与孕妇血清sTfR水平比较：χ²＝8.866、5.301，P＝0.003、0.021；与孕妇血清GDF-15水平比较：χ²＝9.765、5.929，P＝0.002、0.015；与孕妇血清RDW-CV水平比较：χ²＝7.167、4.327，P＝0.007、0.038)。 结论孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV可能成为诊断胎儿β-地中海贫血的生物标志物，NIPT联合这3项指标检测，可提高诊断胎儿β-地中海贫血的特异度与阳性预测值。由于本研究纳入样本量相对较小，NIPT联合孕妇血清sTfR、GDF-15、RDW-CV水平，对胎儿β-地中海贫血的诊断价值，仍然有待进一步研究、证实。     

高危原发前列腺胃肠道外间质瘤诊疗体会及文献复习

目的探讨前列腺原发胃肠道外间质瘤诊治要点。 方法回顾性分析我院2017年9月诊治的1例高危原发性前列腺胃肠道外间质瘤临床病理特征资料、随访情况，总结现有文献讨论总结本病诊治心得。 结果65岁男性，因"前列腺电切术后2年，反复血尿3个月余"入院。术前MRI考虑为来源不清的盆腔巨大实性占位（115 mm×105 mm×85 mm），经直肠穿刺诊断为梭形细胞来源的肿瘤。行盆腔肿瘤切除+膀胱前列腺腺切除+盆腔淋巴结清扫术+Bricker术。术后病理提示为前列腺原发胃肠道外间质瘤[CD117（+）；Dog1（+）；CD34（+）；PSA（+）；AR（+）；P504s（+）；Ki-67（2%）]。术后肿瘤组织全外显子测序提示为C-Kit基因（Exon 11 p.Q556-V560del）存在明显临床意义突变，筛选靶向药物甲磺酸伊马替尼+比卡鲁胺（PSA平稳后停用）口服，术后随访18个月无肿瘤复发及不良并发症。 结论前列腺原发胃肠道外间质瘤罕见，需与前列腺其他良恶性肿瘤相鉴别诊断。全外显子测序了解其发病高危基因，同时筛选药物辅助治疗可使患者生存获益。     

RhPDCD5 combined with dexamethasone increases antitumor activity in multiple myeloma partially via inhibiting the Wnt signalling pathway

Multiple myeloma (MM) is one of the most common hematological malignancies and characterized by the clonal accumulation of malignant plasma cells. Significant progress has been made in MM treatment recently, while MM still remains incurable. Our previous studies showed that the recombined human programmed cell death 5 (rhPDCD5) can promote MM apoptosis induced by dexamethasone (Dex). Here, we expanded the findings by showing that the rhPDCD5 alone could not induce an obvious growth inhibition of U266 cells (a MM cell line). Of note, with the combination of dexamethasone (Dex), the growth of MM cells was significantly inhibited and accompanied with the cell cycle arrest in G0/G1. For mechanism study, we found that the combination treatment of rhPDCD5 plus Dex downregulated the mRNA and protein expressions of Wnt effectors including β‐catenin, β‐catenin (Ser675), TCF4, survivin and c‐Myc when compared to Dex only. Moreover, the activation of WNT pathway induced by LiCl can also be inhibited by this combination treatment. Taken together, our study demonstrated that the combination of rhPDCD5 and Dex can suppress the proliferation of multiple myeloma cells partially via inhibiting the WNT signalling pathway.     

Neuroprotective effect of gold nanoparticles composites in Parkinson's disease model

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Although drugs and surgery can relieve the symptoms of PD, these therapies are incapable of fundamentally treating the disease. For PD patients, over-expression of α-synuclein (SNCA) leads to the death of dopaminergic neurons. This process can be prevented by suppressing SNCA over-expression through RNA interference. Here, we successfully synthesized gold nanoparticles (GNP) composites (CTS@GNP-pDNA-NGF) via the combination of electrostatic adsorption and photochemical immobilization, which could load plasmid DNA (pDNA) and target specific cell types. GNP was transfected into cells via endocytosis to inhibiting the apoptosis of PC12 cells and dopaminergic neurons. Simultaneously, GNP composites are also used in PD models in vivo, and it can successfully cross the blood-brain barrier by contents of GNP in the mice brain. In general, all the works demonstrated that GNP composites have good therapeutic effects for PD models in vitro and in vivo.     

Euxanthone Impairs the Metastatic Potential of Osteosarcoma by Reducing COX-2 Expression

Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most common malignancies of bone. This study was aimed to explore the anti-metastatic effect of euxanthone on OS. Adhesion assay and Transwell assay were used to examine the effect of euxanthone on adhesion, migration and invasion of OS cells. COX-2-over-expressing plasmid was applied to transfect OS cells to assess whether COX-2 affects the anti-metastatic function of euxanthone. PDCD4 knockdown and miR-21 mimic were applied to assess whether euxanthone suppresses the transactivation of c-jun via modulating miR-21-PDCD4 signaling. The effect of euxanthone in vivo was also examined by lung metastasis assay. Euxanthone, a xanthone derivative extracted from Polygala caudata, has been found to exhibit anti-neoplastic activities. In present study, our results showed that euxanthone suppressed cell adhesion, migration, and invasion in OS cells. Our experimental data also showed that repression of COX-2 by euxanthone mediated its anti-metastatic activities. Moreover, our findings revealed that euxanthone modulated the COX-2 expression through the miR-21/PDCD4/c-jun signaling pathway. The anti-metastatic activities of euxanthone were also validated in a pulmonary metastasis model. Taken together, our results highlighted the potential of euxanthone to be used in the treatment of OS. Anat Rec, 302:1399–1408, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ARL4C stabilized by AKT/mTOR pathway promotes the invasion of PTEN-deficient primary human glioblastoma

Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) deficiency in primary human glioblastoma (GBM) is associated with increased invasiveness and poor prognosis with unknown mechanisms. Therefore, how loss of PTEN promotes GBM progression remains to be elucidated. Herein, we identified that ADP-ribosylation factor like-4C (ARL4C) was highly expressed in PTEN-deficient human GBM cells and tissues. Mechanistically, loss of PTEN stabilized ARL4C protein due to AKT/mTOR pathway-mediated inhibition of ARL4C ubiquitination. Functionally, ARL4C enhanced the progression of GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, microarray profiling and GST pull-down assay identified that ARL4C accelerated tumor progression via RAC1-mediated filopodium formation. Importantly, targeting PTEN potently inhibited GBM tumor progression in vitro and in vivo, whereas overexpression of ARL4C reversed the tumor progression impaired by PTEN overexpression. Clinically, analyses with patients' specimens validated a negative correlation between PTEN and ARL4C expression. Elevated ARL4C expression but PTEN deficiency in tumor was associated with poorer disease-free survival and overall survival of GBM patients. Taken together, ARL4C is critical for PTEN-deficient GBM progression and acts as a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic candidate. Copyright © 2018 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.