Evidence for altered Na+/H+ antiport activity in cultured skeletal muscle cells and vascular smooth muscle cells from the spontaneously hypertensive rat.

1. Intracellular pH and Na+/H+ antiport activity were determined by a fluorimetric method in cultured skeletal muscle cells (myoblasts) and aortic vascular smooth muscle cells from spontaneously hypertensive and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats. 2. The intracellular pH was significantly more alkaline at three different extracellular pH values in both myoblasts and vascular smooth muscle cells from the spontaneously hypertensive rats than in those from the normotensive control rats. 3. A kinetic analysis of the Na+/H+ antiport activity in these cells showed that the raised activity in the spontaneously hypertensive rats was due to an increased maximal transport capacity in vascular smooth muscle cells and to an increase in the affinity of the antiport for internal H+ in the myoblasts. 4. When the extracellular pH was reduced in the skeletal muscle cells of both types of rat, the intracellular pH fell. However, in vascular smooth muscle cells, a reduction in the extracellular pH was not associated with a fall in the intracellular pH. This resistance of the intracellular pH to changes in the extracellular pH differentiates vascular smooth muscle cells from other cells that have been studied in this way.     

Synthesis, characterization, antioxidant and antitumor evaluation of some new thiazolidine and thiazolidinone derivatives

2-(2-Cyano-acetylamino)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (2) was utilized as a key intermediate for the synthesis of thiocarbamoyl derivative 3 via its reaction with phenyl isothiocyanate. Treatment of 3 with chloroacetyl chloride afforded thiazolidin-5-one 4. Compound 7 reacted with different α-halo carbonyl compounds to give thiazolidine 8a,b, and thiazolidin-4-one derivatives 9. Treatment of 4 with the appropriate aromatic aldehyde and tolyl diazonium chloride afforded the corresponding thiazolidin-5-one derivatives 5a,b and 6, respectively. The thiazolidin-4-one derivative 10 was obtained via the reaction of compound 2 with 2-mercaptoacetic acid. Finally, the thiazoline 11 was obtained via the reaction of compound 2 with phenyl isothiocyanate/sulfur. The title compounds were characterized by elemental analyses and spectral data. The quantum mechanical calculations for some compounds were accomplished and subjected for antioxidant and antitumor studies, whereas, some of them exhibited promising activities.     

Discovery and inclusion of SOFA score episodes in mortality prediction

Predicting the survival status of Intensive Care patients at the end of their hospital stay is useful for various clinical and organizational tasks. Current models for predicting mortality use logistic regression models that rely solely on data collected during the first 24 h of patient admission. These models do not exploit information contained in daily organ failure scores which nowadays are being routinely collected in many Intensive Care Units. We propose a novel method for mortality prediction that, in addition to admission-related data, takes advantage of daily data as well. The method is characterized by the data-driven discovery of temporal patterns, called episodes, of the organ failure scores and by embedding them in the familiar logistic regression framework for prediction. Our method results in a set of D logistic regression models, one for each of the first D days of Intensive Care Unit stay. A model for day d  D is trained on the patient subpopulation that stayed at least d days in the Intensive Care Unit and predicts the probability of death at the end of hospital stay for such patients. We implemented our method, with a specific form of episodes, called aligned episodes, on a large dataset of Intensive Care Unit patients for the first 5 days of stay (D = 5) in the unit. We compared our models with ones that were developed on the same patient subpopulations but which did not use the episodes. The new models show improved performance on each of the five days. They also provide insight in the effect of the various selected episodes on mortality.     

Carcinosarcoma of the breast

Carcinosarcoma of the breast is an extremely rare and aggressive tumour with two distinct cell lines comprising epithelial and mesenchymal components, with few cases reported in the literature. The prognosis of carcinosarcoma breast is less favourable compared to more common types of breast cancers such as infiltrating ductal or lobular carcinomas. These tumours form a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. A case of carcinosarcoma breast in a 36 years old woman is presented here.     

Effect of novel water soluble curcumin derivative on experimental type- 1 diabetes mellitus (short term study)

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus type 1 is an autoimmune disorder caused by lymphocytic infiltration and beta cells destruction. Curcumin has been identified as a potent inducer of heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a redoxsensitive inducible protein that provides protection against various forms of stress. A novel water soluble curcumin derivative (NCD) has been developed to overcome low in vivo bioavailability of curcumin. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the anti diabetic effects of the "NCD" and its effects on diabetes-induced ROS generation and lipid peroxidation in experimental type- 1 diabetes mellitus. We also examine whether the up regulation of HO-1 accompanied by increased HO activity mediates these antidiabetic and anti oxidant actions. Materials and methods Rats were divided into control group, control group receiving curcumin derivative, diabetic group, diabetic group receiving curcumin derivative and diabetic group receiving curcumin derivative and HO inhibitor ZnPP. Type-1 diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Curcumin derivative was given orally for 45 days. At the planned sacrification time (after 45 days), fasting blood samples were withdrawn for estimation of plasma glucose, plasma insulin and lipid profile . Animals were sacrificed; pancreas, aorta and liver were excised for the heme oxygenase - 1 expression, activity and malondialdehyde estimation. RESULTS: NCD supplementation to diabetic rats significantly lowered the plasma glucose by 27.5% and increased plasma insulin by 66.67%. On the other hand, the mean plasma glucose level in the control group showed no significant difference compared to the control group receiving the oral NCD whereas, NCD supplementation to the control rats significantly increased the plasma insulin by 47.13% compared to the control. NCD decreased total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and increased HDL cholesterol levels. Also, it decreased lipid peroxides (malondialdehyde) in the pancreas, aorta and liver. CONCLUSION: The (NCD) by its small dose possesses antidiabetic actions and that heme oxygenase induction seems to play an important role in its anti-diabetic effects. NCD also improves the lipid profile and oxidative status directly, proved by decreasing lipid peroxides (malondialdehyde) in pancreas, liver & aorta. The new water soluble curcumin derivative still retains the essential potencies of natural curcumin.     

Endocarditis‐induced thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura mimicking preeclampsia: A case report

TTP, Preeclampsia have similar manifestations in pregnancy. Establishing the right diagnosis is essential as the treatment is different. Endocarditis‐induced TTP should be suspected when neurological symptoms, thrombocytopenia are present.