Eryptosis of non-parasitized erythrocytes is related to anemia in Plasmodium berghei low parasitema malaria of Wistar rats

Parasitology Research - It is known that premature elimination of non-parasitized RBCs (nRBCs) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of malarial anemia, in which suicidal death process...     

Detection of “Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii” in ticks parasitizing bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the northern Brazilian Amazon

A total of 482 bats representing 32 species and two families were captured in the Amazon forests of the Amapá state in northern Brazil. Nineteen Artibeus planirostris bats (3.9 %) were infested with 160 ticks, all identified as Ornithodoros hasei. Three pools of larvae were screened for rickettsial DNA via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting three rickettsial genes: gltA, ompA and htrA. Only one of them yielded an amplicons of the expected size for all three molecular assays. Comparisons of the obtained sequences including a phylogenetic analysis confirmed the occurrence of “Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii” in Brazil.

     

Under inflammatory stimuli mesenteric mesothelial cells transdifferentiate into macrophages and produce pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6

Inflammation Research - Inflammatory stimuli inducing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) can transdifferentiate mesenteric mesothelial cells into macrophages. Sprague Dawley rat mesenteric...     

HMGB1 decreases CCR-2 expression and migration of M2 macrophages under hypoxia

Inflammation Research - The hypoxic milieu at tumor microenvironment is able to drive the behavior of infiltrating tumor cells. Considering that hypoxia-mediated HMGB1 release is known to promote...     

Cost evolution of biological agents for the treatment of spondyloarthritis in a tertiary hospital: influential factors in price

Background Spending on biological agents has risen dramatically due to the high cost of the drugs and the increased prevalence of spondyloarthritis. Objective To evaluate the annual cost per patient and cost for each biological drug for treating patients with spondyloarthritis from 2009 to 2016, and to calculate factors that affect treatment cost, such as optimizing therapies by monitoring drug serum levels, the use of biosimilar-TNF inhibitors, and official discounts or negotiated rebates in biologicals acquired by the pharmacy department. Method Retrospective, observational study in a Spanish tertiary hospital. Main outcome Annual cost per patient and per drug. Factors that influenced the costs and socio-demographic parameters and disease activity. Results A total of 129, 215, and 224 patients were treated in 2009, 2013, and 2016, respectively. The annual cost per patient decreased: EUR11,604 in 2009, EUR8513 in 2013, and EUR7464 in 2016. The introduction of new drugs drives economic competition, leading to total savings per drug, with discounts reaching 5.8, 12.4, 16.7, 17.7, 13.7, and 24.8% for original infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, ertolizumab, golimumab, and secukinumab, respectively, while rebates for biosimilar infliximab reached 31.90% in 2016. The number of patients with optimized therapies reached 47.5% in 2016, which led to cost savings of EUR798,614, in addition to savings from official discounts and rebates of EUR252,706 and savings from optimized therapies of EUR545,908 in 2016. Conclusion The cost of biological treatments declined after official discounts, negotiated rebates, and optimized therapies, leading to a significant decrease in the annual cost per patient. The greatest contribution to economic savings in biological therapy according to our study was biological therapy optimization.     

Use of a case-mix approach to study the trends in the incidence of second primary cancers

Purpose

To analyze trends in second primary cancer (SPC) incidence by using a case-mix approach to standardize on first cancer site distribution.

On (scientific) integrity: conceptual clarification

The notion of “integrity” is currently quite common and broadly recognized as complex, mostly due to its recurring and diverse application in various distinct domains such as the physical, psychic or moral, the personal or professional, that of the human being or of the totality of beings. Nevertheless, its adjectivation imprints a specific meaning, as happens in the case of “scientific integrity”. This concept has been defined mostly by via negativa, by pointing out what goes against integrity, that is, through the identification of its infringements, which has also not facilitated the elaboration of an overarching and consensual code of scientific integrity. In this context, it is deemed necessary to clarify the notion of “integrity”, first etymologically, recovering the original meaning of the term, and then in a specifically conceptual way, through the identification of the various meanings with which the term can be legitimately used, particularly in the domain of scientific research and innovation. These two steps are fundamental and indispensable for a forthcoming attempt at systematizing the requirements of “scientific integrity”.