Juvenile ossifying fibroma diagnosed on fine needle aspiration cytology: A diagnostic challenge

Preoperative diagnosis of jaw lesions is not always possible on the basis of clinico‐radiological findings alone and needs to be confirmed before attempting any surgical intervention. Fibro‐osseous lesions of the jaw comprise a spectrum of diseases which include cement‐osseous dysplasia, fibrous dysplasia, and ossifying fibroma. The cytomorphological distinction between these individual entities is difficult. We present a case of maxillary fibro‐osseous lesion in an adolescent girl diagnosed and categorized as juvenile ossifying fibroma preoperatively on cytology and confirmed on histopathology. Although aspirates are usually paucicellular in fibro‐osseous lesions, certain cytological features if present in cellular cytosmears can offer further categorization and a definitive diagnosis may be possible in light of clinico‐radiological correlation. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2015;43:75–79. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Current Strategies,Unfocussed Aspects,Challenges, and Alternatives

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for >90% of the cases of diabetes in adults. Resistance to insulin action is the major cause that leads to chronic hyperglycemia in diabetic patients. T2DM is the consequence of activation of multiple pathways and factors involved in insulin resistance and β-cell dysfunction. Also, the etiology of T2DM involves the complex interplay between genetics and environmental factors. This interplay can be governed efficiently by lifestyle modifications to achieve better management of diabetes. The present review aims at discussing the major factors involved in the development of T2DM that remain unfocussed during the anti-diabetic therapy. The review also focuses on lifestyle modifications that are warranted for the successful management of T2DM. In addition, it attempts to explain flaws in current strategies to combat diabetes. The employability of phytoconstituents as multitargeting molecules and their potential use as effective therapeutic adjuvants to first line hypoglycemic agents to prevent side effects caused by the synthetic drugs are also discussed.     

Live single cell mass spectrometry reveals cancer‐specific metabolic profiles of circulating tumor cells

Recently, there has been increased attention on the analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), also known as liquid biopsy, owing to its potential benefits in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Circulating tumor cells are released from primary tumor lesions into the blood stream and eventually metastasize to distant body organs. However, a major hurdle with CTC analysis is their natural scarcity. Existing methods lack sensitivity, specificity, or reproducibility required in CTC characterization and detection. Here, we report untargeted molecular profiling of single CTCs obtained from gastric cancer and colorectal cancer patients, using live single cell mass spectrometry integrated with microfluidics‐based cell enrichment techniques. Using this approach, we showed the difference in the metabolomic profile between CTCs originating from different cancer groups. Moreover, potential biomarkers were putatively annotated to be specific to each cancer type.     

Pharmacological studies on seeds of Alangium salvifolium Linn

The seeds of Alangium salvifolium Linn. have been traditionally reported to exhibit a variety of biological activities, including antidiabetic, anticancer, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, laxative, and antiepileptic activities. The objective of this study was to verify the traditional claims and to evaluate the seeds of Alangium salvifolium in various organic extracts to screen the antidiabetic, antiepileptic, analgesic and antiinflammatory activities. The chloroform, ethanol, and water extracts of Alangium salvifolium seeds were obtained and subjected for phytochemical screening and evaluated for their pharmacological activities. From the acute toxicity study it was observed that chloroform, ethanol, and aqueous extracts of Alangium salvifolium seeds are non-toxic at a fixed dose of 2000 mg/kg. Among all three extracts ethanol extracts exhibited significant (p < 0.01) antidiabetic, antiepileptic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, steroids and tannins. The results of present study verified the traditional claims made by ayurvedic practitioner. However, the chemical constituents responsible for the pharmacological activities remain to be investigated.     

Possible underlying influence of p38MAPK and NF-κB in the diminished anti-anxiety effect of diazepam in stressed mice

The present study was designed to explore the possible nitriergic influence and role of p38MAPK and NF-κB in the diminished anti-anxiety effect of diazepam in stressed mice, using the elevated plus maze and light/dark box to assess anxiety. Immobilization stress for 6 h enhanced an anxiety-like behavior and increased plasma nitrite levels in mice. Diazepam (2 mg/kg, i.p.) produced an anti-anxiety effect in unstressed mice, but could not produce any change in anxiety levels of stressed mice. SB-203580 (2 mg/kg, i.p.), a specific inhibitor of p38MAPK, per se produced a significant antianxiety-like activity in stressed mice. Administration of a combination of SB-203580 (2 mg/kg, i.p.) and diazepam (2 mg/kg) in stressed mice produced a significantly higher antianxiety-like activity than that produced by SB-203580 alone. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an inhibitor of the activation of NF-κB, per se produced a significant antianxiety-like activity in stressed mice. Combination of PDTC and diazepam also served to produce a higher significant antianxiety-like activity in stressed mice than that produced by PDTC alone. Diazepam could not produce any change in plasma nitrite levels in both unstressed and stressed mice. Both SB-203580 (2 mg/kg, i.p.) and PDTC (100 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly decreased plasma nitrite levels in stressed mice. The observations indicate that the diminished anti-anxiety effect of diazepam in stressed mice may involve strong nitriergic influence and may further be p38MAPK- and NF-κB-dependent.     

Putting genetic interactions in context through a global modular decomposition

Genetic interactions provide a powerful perspective into gene function, but our knowledge of the specific mechanisms that give rise to these interactions is still relatively limited. The availability of a global genetic interaction map in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, covering ～30% of all possible double mutant combinations, provides an unprecedented opportunity for an unbiased assessment of the native structure within genetic interaction networks and how it relates to gene function and modular organization. Toward this end, we developed a data mining approach to exhaustively discover all block structures within this network, which allowed for its complete modular decomposition. The resulting modular structures revealed the importance of the context of individual genetic interactions in their interpretation and revealed distinct trends among genetic interaction hubs as well as insights into the evolution of duplicate genes. Block membership also revealed a surprising degree of multifunctionality across the yeast genome and enabled a novel association of VIP1 and IPK1 with DNA replication and repair, which is supported by experimental evidence. Our modular decomposition also provided a basis for testing the between-pathway model of negative genetic interactions and within-pathway model of positive genetic interactions. While we find that most modular structures involving negative genetic interactions fit the between-pathway model, we found that current models for positive genetic interactions fail to explain 80% of the modular structures detected. We also find differences between the modular structures of essential and nonessential genes.     

Prasugrel as a safe alternative for clopidogrel-associated arthritis

Clopidogrel is a thienopyridine derivative antiplatelet compound. The antiplatelet effects of clopidogrel originate through noncompetitive antagonism of the platelet ADP receptor, P2Y12, resulting in inhibition of platelet activation. Clopidogrel is now widely used in acute coronary syndromes and after percutaneous coronary interventions to reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events. We report a case of acute migratory polyarthritis associated with the use of clopidogrel. This serves as only the second documented case of clopidogrel-associated arthritis in the United States, and the first to show that prasugrel may be considered as an alternative agent without short-term reoccurrence.