A simple technique for evaluation of methods of cell separation

A simple method is described for labelling cells with fluorescein and using them in artificial mixtures to assess cell separation procedures. The method facilitates the examination of the variables in a separation procedure. It is thus possible to tailor a separation procedure (for example panning with monoclonal antibody) to suit the specific requirements of the experiment.     

Subcortical hyperintensities on brain magnetic resonance imaging: a comparison between late age onset and early onset elderly depressed subjects

Subcortical structural changes have been reported to occur in some elderly subjects with late age onset depression. Given the association between diseases affecting subcortical structures and affective disorders, this suggests that these structural changes may be involved in the etiology of late age onset depression in some patients. With the advent of Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), "in vivo" analysis of these subcortical structures is now possible. The authors report a higher occurrence of caudate (60% vs. 11%) and large deep white matter hyperintensities (60% vs. 11%) in late age onset elderly depressed subjects compared with early onset elderly depressed subjects. These results suggest that late age onset depression may be mediated by caudate and white matter structural changes in some patients.     

Papillary cystic type of acinic cell carcinoma of parotid: fine needle aspiration cytological features of a high grade variant with oncocytic metaplasia

A 60-year-old female developed a right parotid swelling six months after surgery for intra-oral squamous cell carcinoma. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytological smears showed dissociated large and small pleomorphic tumour cells with abundant mitoses and oncocytic features. A cytological diagnosis of parotid acinic cell carcinoma (ACC) was made. Histological study of the subtotal parotidectomy specimen showed a papillary cystic variety of acinic cell carcinoma (ACC-PCV). FNA cytological features in this case of ACC-PCV differs from the two previously reported cases in that it showed prominent oncocytic and high grade features and absence of papillary pattern in the cytological smears. ACC-PCV is an uncommon tumour and knowledge of its varied FNA cytological features is important for the diagnosis of this neoplasm.     

Neurovegetative symptoms in chronic pain and depression

The pattern and frequency of neurovegetative symptoms was studied in 57 patients with chronic pain. Seventy-nine percent of these patients had a diagnosable depressive illness, but endogenous depression was rare (5%). Patients with chronic pain were divided into major depressives, minor/intermittent depressives and patients with no depression. A control group of nonendogenous major depressives without pain was also utilized. Major depressives differed from the other two chronic pain groups in that there was more frequent or severe early waking, weight loss, anorexia, diminished libido and initial insomnia. Diurnal variation of mood was not a characteristic of major depression with chronic pain, and did not differ in frequency from the other two chronic pain groups. Major depressives exhibited a profile of neurovegetative symptoms very similar to that found in the control group of major depressives. Over one-third of minor/intermittent depressed patients with chronic pain exhibited atypical (reversed) vegetative symptoms of hyperphagia and weight gain. This finding, together with our review of the literature, suggests an important and previously unrecognized link between atypical depression and chronic pain.     

Prostate cancer: results of external irradiation.

From 1975 to 1982, 205 patients with local prostate cancer were treated at the radiation oncology department, the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas. Patients'' median age was 73 years. All of the patients were staged according to American Urologic staging criteria. Twenty-eight patients had stage A2 cancer, 91 patients had stage B cancer, and 86 patients had stage C cancer. All patients were treated using megavoltage radiation (dosage range: 6000 cGy to 7100 cGy). The follow-up period ranged from a minimum of 8 years to a maximum of 15 years (median: 9.4 years). The clinical local control was 96% for stage A2, 94% for stage B, and 90% for stage C disease. The overall and disease-free survival rates were 71% and 60%, respectively. Fourteen patients developed moderate complications with one patient (0.5%) requiring surgical intervention. The local control and survival rates reported in this study are comparable with surgical results, suggesting that external beam irradiation in prostate cancer is safe and effective.     

Molecular characterization of a human rotavirus reveals porcine characteristics in most of the genes including VP6 and NSP4

Summary. Long electropherotype with Subgroup I specificity is a common feature of animal rotaviruses. In an epidemic of infantile gastroenteritis in Manipur, India, long but SG I strains predominated in the outbreak in the year 1987–88. One such strain isolated from that region, following the outbreak had G9P [19] specificity. As this is a rare combination, the gene sequences encoding VP4, VP6, VP7, NSP1, NSP2, NSP3, NSP4 and NSP5 of this strain were analyzed. All these genes except VP7 were closely related to porcine rotaviruses (95–99% identity at amino acid level) and clustered with the porcine strains in phylogenetic analysis. In addition, it had subgroup I nature and belonged to NSP4 genotype B which is characteristic of animal rotaviruses. This is the first report of a rotavirus with VP6 and NSP4, two crucial proteins thought to be involved in host range restriction and pathogenicity, were of porcine origin and caused diarrhoea in a human host. Among the genes of this strain sequenced so far, only VP7 had highest identity to human strains at amino acid level. This study suggests reassortment may be occurring between human and other animal strains and some of the reassortant viruses may be virulent to humans.     

Elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio is associated with poor long-term survival and graft failure after lung transplantation

PurposeWe aimed to assess the prognostic value of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) on long-term outcomes and graft dysfunction after lung transplantation.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed all patients receiving a lung transplant at our institution from 2011 to 2014. The primary exposure was elevated NLR at the time of transplant, defined by NLR>4. The primary outcomes were graft failure and three-year all-cause mortality. Multivariate logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were used to analyze outcomes.Results95 patients were included. 40 patients (42%) had an elevated NLR. Elevated NLR was associated with graft failure (OR: 4.7 [1.2–18.8], p = 0.02), and three-year mortality (OR: 5.4 [1.3–23.2], p = 0.03) on multivariate logistic regression. Patients with elevated NLR demonstrated significantly lower survival on Kaplan-Meier analysis (50% versus 74%, p = 0.02). The c-statistic for our multivariate model was 0.91.ConclusionElevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio is associated with poor long-term survival and graft failure after lung transplantation.     

Application of Microalgal Physiological Response as Biomarker for Evaluating the Toxicity of the Textile Dye Alizarin Red S

Textile dyes are becoming a growing threat to the environment. This report presents the findings of the study on the toxicity of the textile dye Alizarin Red S on two freshwater microalgae. The acute toxicity assay revealed that 96-h EC₅₀ values of Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis were 29.81 mg/L and 18.94 mg/L respectively. The pigments chlorophyll-a, b and carotenoids in C. vulgaris on 96-h exposure to the dye were 2.91, 3.29 and 3.01 times lower in analogy to control whereas Spirulina platensis showed 2.89and 2.56 fold decrease in chlorophyll-a and carotenoid content than control. After the test period of 96-h with dye, the protein content of C. vulgaris and S. platensis were 2.33 and 1.77 times lower compared to the control. The growth inhibition rate, pigment as well as the protein content declined in compliance with the rise in dye concentration, which anticipate paradigm about the toxic effects of the textile dye.

     

Human leukocyte response to an endurance race

Summary The response of circulating leukocytes (WBC's) with regard to changes in number, proportion of neutrophils versus lymphocytes and changes in lymphocyte function as well as proportions of T and B cells was studied in eleven men who ran a 20-mile race. A marked leukocytosis was noted 10–15 min after the race with the predominant increase being polymorphonuclear leukocytes (P<0.001). A significant rise in mean serum cortisol levels was also noted (P<0.001) which correlated with both the increase in total WBC's (P< 0.001) and granulocytes (P<0.001), but not lymphocytes. The increase in serum cortisol was inversely correlated with miles of prior training (P<0.001). An increase in lymphocytes from 1767±112/mm³ to 2431±202/mm³ was less than that previously described in short-term exercise. As with short-term exercise the most significant increase in lymphocytes was in B lymphocytes bearing surface immunoglobulin (P<0.0025). However, in contrast to short-term exercise lymphocytes maintained good in vitro response to the mitogen phytohemagglutinin.This study demonstrates that endurance racing produces a more marked granulocytosis and less lymphocytosis than short bouts of exercise. It is suggested that the degree of leukocytosis is stress dependent in that it was positively correlated with serum cortisol and inversely correlated with prior training.Supported in part by a joint fellowship from the National and Wisconsin Kidney Foundations