Bcl-2 expression and triple negative profile in breast carcinoma

Appearance of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in same person has been reported in the literature. There is a higher-than-expected incidence of co-occurrence of these neoplastic disorders. The cause for this association remains speculative. Two epidemiological studies have shown that the observed-to-expected ratio for occurrence of RCC in NHL patients were 1.86 to 2.67. We herein describe five patients with both RCC and lymphoid malignancies, and reviewed possible explanations for the association. In three of the five patients, RCC was diagnosed during lymphoproliferative disease work-up, and remaining two cases had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia 1 and 5 years prior to RCC. All RCC cases were detected during staging of the primary tumor, usually by CT scan and/or ultrasound. Our data are in correlation with the literature that there is an increased association of RCC and NHL more often among male patients, and that the lymphoproliferative disease often presents with extranodal involvement. The specialists should be alerted for this possibility when evaluating patients at diagnosis or during follow-up.     

Relationship between toll-like receptor 2 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms and the effectiveness of Bacille Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy in preventing recurrence of superficial bladder cancer: A prospective study

Background: Intravesical Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy has been used for several decades as a prophylactic approach against recurrence of superficial bladder cancer. However, its effectiveness has been both variable and unpredictable. Typically, cancer BCG-immunotherapy aims to redirect or modulate both innate and adaptive immune responses. The consequences of gene polymorphisms in several key immuno-regulatory molecules on the heterogeneity of the response to BCG-immunotherapy have been investigated.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 polymorphisms (arginine to glutamine substitution at position 753 [Arg753Gln] and arginine to tryptophan substitution at position 677 [Arg677Trp]) and the outcome of BCG-immunotherapy.Methods: This prospective study was conducted during a 3-year period from June 2006 to July 2009. Consecutive patients were recruited during a 1-year period and followed for 2 years at the Department of Urology, Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia. Patients with superficial bladder tumors at stage Ta (noninvasive papillary carcinoma) or T1 (where the tumor has grown from the layer of cells lining the bladder into the connective tissue below but has not grown into the muscle layer of the bladder) of any grade were eligible; carcinoma in situ cases were excluded. The TLR2 Arg753Gln and Arg677Trp polymorphisms were studied in peripheral blood DNA from patients treated with BCG-immunotherapy after transurethral resection.Results: A total of 112 consecutive patients were enrolled (101 men and 11 women; mean age, 63.9 years [range, 25–85 years]) and completed the 2-year followup. Polymerase chain reaction amplification followed by direct sequencing of the region containing the TLR2 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of interest did not detect Arg753Gln or Arg677Trp in any of the study participants belonging to either of 2 groups: responders (n = 67) and nonresponders (n = 45) to BCG-immunotherapy.Conclusions: No patients included in the study were found to have the 2 known TLR2 nonsynonymous SNPs, and the relative importance of these polymorphisms could not be definitely determined. However, a significant proportion of patients without these polymorphisms responded to BCG-immunotherapy, suggesting that these genetic variants are not critical in the effectiveness of this approach for preventing recurrence of the tumor.     

Evaluation of the diagnostic value of measuring IgG,IgM, and IgA antibodies to mycobacterial A60 antigen in active tuberculosis

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of detection of serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG, and IgM antibodies raised against the mycobacterial A60 antigen for the diagnosis and discrimination of active tuberculosis (TB) from other pulmonary diseases. Three commercially available ELISA kits (IgA, IgG, and IgM) (ANDA Biologicals, Strasbourg, France) were evaluated simultaneously in 246 serum samples from 3 groups of patients: group I, 171 patients with active TB (128 pulmonary TB and 43 extrapulmonary TB); group II, 73 patients with pulmonary non-TB diseases; and group III, 2 leprosies patients. The sensitivities of tests ranged from 31.3% (IgA) to 94% (IgG) in pulmonary TB patients and from 21% (IgA) to 84% (IgG) in extrapulmonary TB patients. The specificities of assays varied from 92% (IgG) to 96% (IgA) in the pulmonary non-TB group. Combination of IgG with IgA and/or IgM does not improve its sensitivity. Clinical use of the A60-based serodiagnostic IgG assay is of great value for the rapid diagnosis and discrimination between active TB and pulmonary non-TB diseases. Moreover, this test could be used to increase diagnostic accuracy, especially for smear-negative TB cases, which are difficult to diagnose.     

Observer-based controller for positive polynomial systems with time delay

This paper deals with some synthesis problems for a class of positive polynomial systems with time delay, for which the state vector takes nonnegative values whenever the initial conditions are nonnegative. First, the synthesis of state feedback controllers is solved using a Lyapunov-Krasovskii approach, including the requirement of positiveness. In a second part, observers are included. In both cases, the design conditions are presented in terms of sum of squares, which can be numerically and symbolically solved via SOSTOOLS and a semidefinite program solver. Finally, four numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed approach.     

Melatonin ingestion before intradialytic exercise improves immune responses in hemodialysis patients

International Urology and Nephrology - The present study aimed to investigate the effects of melatonin (MEL) intake on systemic inflammation and immune responses during intradialytic exercise....