Functional and psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on rheumatic patients’ quality of life in Saudi Arabia

Quality of Life Research - The COVID-19 pandemic might add to the stressors experienced by people living with rheumatic diseases. This study aimed to examine rheumatic patients’ functional...     

Mesenchymal neoplasms with NTRK and other kinase gene alterations

Kinase alterations are increasingly recognised as oncogenic drivers in mesenchymal tumours. Infantile fibrosarcoma and the related renal tumour, congenital mesoblastic nephroma, were among the first solid tumours shown to harbour recurrent tyrosine kinase fusions, with the canonical ETV6::NTRK3 fusion identified more than 20 years ago. Although targeted testing has long been used in diagnosis, the advent of more robust sequencing techniques has driven the discovery of kinase alterations in an array of mesenchymal tumours. As our ability to identify these genetic alterations has improved, as has our recognition and understanding of the tumours that harbour these alterations. Specifically, this study will focus upon mesenchymal tumours harbouring NTRK or other kinase alterations, including tumours with an infantile fibrosarcoma-like appearance, spindle cell tumours resembling lipofibromatosis or peripheral nerve sheath tumours and those occurring in adults with a fibrosarcoma-like appearance. As publications describing the histology of these tumours increase so, too, do the variety kinase alterations reported, now including NTRK1/2/3, RET, MET, RAF1, BRAF, ALK, EGFR and ABL1 fusions or alterations. To date, these tumours appear locally aggressive and rarely metastatic, without a clear link between traditional features used in histological grading (e.g. mitotic activity, necrosis) and outcome. However, most of these tumours are amenable to new targeted therapies, making their recognition of both diagnostic and therapeutic import. The goal of this study is to review the clinicopathological features of tumours with NTRK and other tyrosine kinase alterations, discuss the most common differential diagnoses and provide recommendations for molecular confirmation with associated treatment implications.     

朝鲜淫羊藿酸性多糖的理化特性及对HepG2细胞脂质堆积的改善作用＊

目的 对比研究朝鲜淫羊藿酸性多糖酯化还原前后的理化特性，并探讨其改善油酸诱导的肝癌HepG2细胞脂质堆积活性的差异。方法 采用高效凝胶渗透色谱法测定朝鲜淫羊藿酸性多糖（EFPA）的均一性和分子量，高效液相色谱法测定EFPA和酯化还原后朝鲜淫羊藿酸性多糖（EFPA-R）的单糖组成；采用油酸（OA）处理HepG2细胞诱导建立脂质蓄积模型，不同浓度EFPA与EFPA-R（10、30、100、300 μg·mL^-1）分别和OA共同作用于细胞24 h，采用CCK-8试剂盒测定细胞存活率，油红O染色观察细胞内脂滴蓄积情况，并采用试剂盒测定细胞内总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）含量。结果 EFPA为成分均一的多糖组分，分子量为125.8 kDa，由甘露糖、葡萄糖、半乳糖、葡萄糖醛酸和阿拉伯糖组成，摩尔比为1.7∶7.4∶1.4∶1.8∶1.0，葡萄糖占比最大，EFPA-R由甘露糖、葡萄糖、半乳糖和阿拉伯糖组成，摩尔比为0.8∶10.6∶2.1∶1.0；在10-300 μg·mL^-1范围内，EFPA和EFPA-R对HepG2细胞的抑制作用较弱，作为给药浓度；与空白组相比，模型组细胞中TC、TG含量显著升高（P < 0.01），细胞内红色脂滴显著增多，与模型组相比，EFPA可显著降低细胞中TC、TG含量（P < 0.01），明显减少细胞内红色脂滴（P < 0.05或P < 0.01），EFPA-R干预后细胞则无明显变化。结论 EFPA可明显改善HepG2细胞脂质堆积情况，且呈现剂量依赖性，而半乳糖醛酸（GalA）的存在可能是其抑制HepG2细胞脂质蓄积的关键因素。     

CD19 + CD21lo/neg cells are increased in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The purpose of this study was to examine recirculating lymphocytes from SSc patients for potential biomarkers of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from patients with SSc and healthy controls enrolled in the Vanderbilt University Myositis and Scleroderma Treatment Initiative Center cohort between 9/2017–6/2019. Clinical phenotyping was performed by chart abstraction. Immunophenotyping was performed using both mass cytometry and fluorescence cytometry combined with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis and traditional biaxial gating. This study included 34 patients with SSc-ILD, 14 patients without SSc-ILD, and 25 healthy controls. CD21^lo/neg cells are significantly increased in SSc-ILD but not in SSc without ILD (15.4 ± 13.3% vs. 5.8 ± 0.9%, p = 0.002) or healthy controls (5.0 ± 0.5%, p < 0.0001). While CD21^lo/neg B cells can be identified from a single biaxial gate, tSNE analysis reveals that the biaxial gate is comprised of multiple distinct subsets, all of which are increased in SSc-ILD. CD21^lo/neg cells in both healthy controls and SSc-ILD are predominantly tBET positive and do not have intracellular CD21. Immunohistochemistry staining demonstrated that CD21^lo/neg B cells diffusely infiltrate the lung parenchyma of an SSc-ILD patient. Additional work is needed to validate this biomarker in larger cohorts and longitudinal studies and to understand the role of these cells in SSc-ILD.

     

Update PONV – Was gibt es Neues bei der Prophylaxe und Therapie von postoperativer Übelkeit und postoperativem Erbrechen?

Die Anaesthesiologie - Auch wenn für Anästhesiologen über Jahrzehnte die Prophylaxe und Therapie postoperativer Schmerzen im Rahmen des postoperativen Patientenkomforts an vorderster...