Celiac disease

Celiac disease, with a prevalence around 1% of the general population, is the most common genetically‐induced food intolerance in the world. Triggered by the ingestion of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals, this enteropathy may appear at any age, and is characterized by a wide variety of clinical signs and symptoms. Among them, gastrointestinal presentations include chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss or failure to thrive in children; but extra‐intestinal manifestations are also common, and actually appear to be on the rise. They include a large variety of ailments, such as dermatitis Herpetiformis, anemia, short stature, osteoporosis, arthritis, neurologic problems, unexplained elevation of transaminases, and even female infertility. For the clinician interested in oral diseases, celiac disease can lead to delayed tooth eruption, dental enamel hypoplasia, recurrent oral aphthae. Diagnosing celiac disease requires therefore a high degree of suspicion followed by a very sensitive screening test: serum levels of the autoantibody anti‐tissue transglutaminase. A positive subject will then be confirmed by an intestinal biopsy, and will then be put on a strict gluten‐free diet, that in most cases will bring a marked improvement of symptoms. Newer forms of treatment which in the future will probably be available to the non‐responsive patients are currently being actively pursued.     

Elevated Expression Levels of Lung Complement Anaphylatoxin,Neutrophil Chemoattractant Chemokine IL-8, and RANTES in MERS-CoV-Infected Patients: Predictive Biomarkers for Disease Severity and Mortality

Journal of Clinical Immunology - The complement system, a network of highly-regulated proteins, represents a vital part of the innate immune response. Over-activation of the complement system plays...     

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging of mucin-rich mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma of the kidney: a case report

Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma (MTSCC) is a rare indolent subtype of renal cell carcinoma, which has variable magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features due to histomorphologic diversity. Diffusion-weighted MR imaging has shown its ability to differentiate benign and malignant renal neoplasms in some recent studies and can be a useful adjunct to routine MR sequences in ambiguous cases. We present a histopathology proven case of MTSCC highlighting the role of diffusion-weighted imaging in guiding the surgical management.     

Expression of the antiviral protein Mx in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of pregnant and bred, non-pregnant ewes

Interferon-tau (IFN tau) acts locally on the endometrium to suppress estrogen and oxytocin receptor expression and block luteolysis in ruminants. Systemic administration of conceptus homogenates or recombinant ovine IFN tau does not block luteolysis or enhance pregnancy rates in sheep or cattle, respectively. However, IFN tau up-regulates expression of the antiviral protein Mx throughout the entire uterine wall during early pregnancy. These studies determined if conceptus-derived IFN tau also up-regulates Mx expression in components of the circulating immune system that migrate through the endometrial wall. In experiment one, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from ewes at D26 post-artificial insemination (AI) and Mx mRNA levels examined by Northern and slot-blot hybridization. Pregnancy resulted in a two-fold increase in Mx mRNA levels compared to bred, non-pregnant ewes at D26. In experiment two, PBMC were isolated from ewes at AI, and every three days from D9 to D30. Results showed a four-fold increase in Mx mRNA levels in PBMC from pregnant versus bred, non-pregnant ewes at D15. Increased Mx mRNA, which remained elevated through D30, was accompanied by increased levels of Mx protein. These results show that pregnancy recognition signaling rapidly induces Mx gene expression in PBMC, and are the first to suggest that IFN tau activates gene expression in components of the circulating immune system.