TCR Vβ gene expression in lesional T lymphocyte cell lines in oral lichen planus

OBJECTIVE: To study Vβ gene expression in oral lichen planus (OLP) lesional T lymphocyte cell lines.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lesional T lymphocytes were isolated from eight OLP patients and cell lines established. The total RNA was extracted from these lymphocyte cell lines and reverse transcribed. cDNA was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a panel of 26 Vβ-specific oligonucleotide primers followed by qualitative analysis of the electrophoresed reaction products.
RESULTS: Vβ 1, 2, 3, 5.1, 6.1–3, 7, 8, 9, 22. 23, and 24 were represented consistently in all of the OLP samples, Vβ11, 12, and 17 were consistently negative, while the other Vβ families (Vβ4, 5.2–3, 10, 13.1, 13.2, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21) were variable. Vβ22 and 23 were the most strongly expressed in all patients.
CONCLUSIONS A limited T cell receptor (TCR) gene usage indicates a degree of oligoclonality within these lesional T lymphocyte cell lines from OLP. This implies that OLP may be an antigen-specific disease or linked to a limited number of superantigens.     

Development of alginate gel dressing

Alginate-based wound dressing materials have been widely used to promote wound healing and to reduce blood loss from wounds. However, recently a few drawbacks of well-established commercial alginate dressings have been reported. Therefore, we tried to develop a new alginate dressing to reduce the drawbacks. First, four new dressings with different calcium content were prepared, and the cytotoxicity of these four materials, and Kaltostat and Sorbsan, was tested in vitro by culture of fibroblasts with their extracts. Second, full-thickness wounds in pigs were used for the evaluation of wound healing in vivo. Finally, a newly developed alginate dressing was used clinically for treatment of split-thickness skin graft donor sites. The extract medium from ALG3, ALG4, Kaltostat, and Sorbsan induced a significant inhibitory effect on proliferation of fibroblasts. As for wound closure rate, the ALG2-covered wounds had the smallest wound area on day 15. Histologically, foreign-body reaction was least in ALG2-treated wounds. In a clinical study, the main drawback of ALG2 was leakage of wound exudate due to dissolution of the dressing material. However, the transparency of moistened ALG2 allowed easy evaluation of the wound, and after healing it was easy to remove ALG2 from the wound without injury to the reepithelialized skin because ALG2 was relatively nonadherent to the wound.     

Study of distribution and factors affecting syphilis epidemic among inner-city minorities of Baltimore

Disparities in health and medical conditions among ethnic and racial groups have been repeatedly documented. These inequalities, which have been noted in the recent past, include health outcomes such as quality of life and mortality, process, accessibility and appropriateness of care, and the prevalence of certain degenerative conditions and infectious diseases. Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease (STD) which seemed to have disappeared or had been controlled over the years, has now re-emerged as a major public health problem in many rural, urban and suburban communities. Progression of the current rate of syphilis, which erupted in Baltimore during the later part of 1994, has continued unabated, most especially among the ethnic minorities, despite efforts of the Baltimore City Health Department and Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to control the epidemic. With the current incidence rates of 270 per 100 000 live births for congenital syphilis and 99.3 per 100 000 population for primary, secondary and latent syphilis (96% of the cases being in the non-white population), Baltimore becomes the city with the highest number of syphilis cases in the nation, surpassing the national average of 2.6 cases per 100 000 population. This study, which utilizes a combination of retrospective and questionnaire-oriented approach, was designed to assess factors that influenced the high incidence of syphilis among Baltimore inner-city dwellers between 1994 and 1998. Data for the study included syphilis reports from private physicians, the Baltimore City Health Department, STD clinics, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and ethnographic interviews. Factors favoring the distribution and infectivity of the disease among the inner-city dwellers include greater poverty, high level of communication gaps between providers and a cross-section of minority inner-city dwellers, exchange of sex for crack cocaine, lower educational background, and inadequate and inappropriate health education/health promotion programs for the ethnic minorities.The paper calls for, among other things, culturally-sensitive and competent syphilis elimination/prevention health education and health promotion programs for the ethnic minority inner-city dwellers of Baltimore.     

Engraftment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid syndrome patient donors into BALB‐RAG‐2−/−IL‐2Rγ−/− mice: A promising model for studying human disease

Objective

To construct a humanized mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that resembles the human disease in order to define the pathophysiology and targets for treatments.

Methods

We infused peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE patients into BALB‐ RAG‐2^−/−IL‐2Rγ^−/− double‐knockout (DKO) mice, which lack T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells. PBMCs from 5 SLE patients and 4 normal donors were infused intravenously/intraperitoneally at a density of 3–5 × 10⁶ cells per animal into nonirradiated 4–5‐week‐old mice. We evaluated the engraftment of human CD45+ cells and monitored the plasma levels of human IgG, anti–double‐stranded DNA (anti‐dsDNA) antibody, and anticardiolipin antibody (aCL), as well as proteinuria and kidney histology.

Results

There was 100% successful engraftment in 40 DKO mice infused with human PBMCs. In the PBMC fraction from SLE PBMC–infused DKO (SLE‐DKO) mice and normal donor PBMC–infused DKO (ND‐DKO) mice, an average of 41% and 53% human CD45+ cells, respectively, were observed at 4 weeks postengraftment, with 70–90% CD3+ cells. There were fewer CD3+CD4+ cells (mean ± SEM 5.5 ± 2.1%) and more CD3+CD8+ cells (79.4 ± 3.6%) in the SLE‐DKO mice as in the SLE patients from which the PBMCs were derived. CD19+ B cells and CD11c+ monocytic cells were found in the spleen, lung, liver, and bone marrow. There was no significant difference in plasma levels of human IgG and anti‐dsDNA antibodies between SLE‐DKO and ND‐DKO mice. Levels of aCL were significantly higher in all SLE‐DKO mice infused with PBMCs from an SLE patient who had high titers of aCL. SLE‐DKO mice had proteinuria, human IgG deposits in the kidneys, and a shorter life span. In SLE‐DKO mice engrafted with PBMCs from the aCL‐positive patient, we found microthrombi and infiltration of CD3+, CD8+, and CD19+ cells in the glomeruli, recapitulating the human antiphospholipid syndrome in these mice.

Conclusion

We established a novel humanized SLE‐DKO mouse exhibiting many of the immunologic and clinical features of human SLE.

     

Validation of the EuroQol Five-dimensions - Three-Level Quality of Life Instrument in a Classical Indian Language (Odia) and Its Use to Assess Quality of Life and Health Status of Cancer Patients in Eastern India

Results:The QOL worsened with age and was worse in cancer patients proved that the tool had good construct validity. The Anxiety Depression dimension had good correlation with all the dimensions WHO-5 (rho > 0.4) indicating a good concurrent validity. Internal consistency and reliability of the tool were good (Cronbach''s alpha > 0.7). Cancer patients had a poor QOL (mean EQ5D index 0.37SD 0.4) with male patients, patients with Grade II cancer or referred for pain care services and those with living spouses reporting worse QOL.Conclusions:The Odia version of the EQ5D has good reliability and validity for the measurement of health status in cancer and outpatient department patients. Cancer patients in this part of the country have a poor QOL and may need a closer look at pain management and improved societal support systems.     

Report on World Workshops on Oral Medicine (WWOM) IV and V: research themes and citation impact

The first World Workshop on Oral Medicine (WWOM) was held in 1988. The portfolio has continued to expand in scope and impact over the past 26 years. Five World Workshops were conducted between 1988 and 2010, focusing on creation of systematic reviews in biomedicine and health care of importance to the international oral medicine community. WWOM VI was conducted in April 2014 and further extended this modeling. This most recent Workshop also fostered creation of the inaugural joint meeting between the American Academy of Oral Medicine and the European Association of Oral Medicine, together with The British Society for Oral Medicine and the Oral Medicine Academy of Australasia. The goal of the WWOM portfolio is to strategically enhance international oral medicine research, education, and clinical practice. To this end, this report summarizes subject areas for WWOM IV (2004) and research recommendations for WWOM V (2010), as well as citation metrics relative to publications from these two conferences. The information is designed to provide research and clinical context for key issues in oral medicine as delineated by the WWOM portfolio over the past 10 years, as well as for projected outcomes of WWOM VI over the next 12 months.