Bilateral choanal atresia and paranasal sinus hypoplasia in an adult patient with hypogammaglobulinaemia

We present an unusual case of a young female patient presenting with bilateral choanal atresia, which was probably acquired, associated with nasal and paranasal sinus hypoplasia and hypogammaglobulinaemia.     

Gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonist suppressive treatment of ovarian function decreases serum LH-β and bloactive LH but maintains elevated levels of LH-α

Ten patients with endometriosis were treated by a continuous subcutaneous infusion of the GnRH agonist buserelin for 6 months. Although serum oestradiol decreased into the menopausal range within 2 weeks after starting treatment, serum LH levels as measured by immunoassay remained elevated at least fivefold over baseline during the entire treatment. However, the bioactivity of LH as determined by mouse Leydig cell assay was rapidly lost, changing the mean +/- SEM bioactivity/immunoassay ratio from 2.4 +/- 0.5 before treatment to 0.4 +/- 0.01 after only 1 week of medication. When LH-alpha and LH-beta immunoreactivities were assessed by specific antibodies, the serum LH-alpha profile was parallel to immunoreactive LH whereas the LH-beta profile corresponded to the pattern of bioactive LH. LH-alpha was elevated at least tenfold over baseline whereas LH-beta decreased to less than 35% of pretreatment level. The alpha/beta ratio shifted from 1.3 +/- 0.2 before treatment to 0.04 +/- 0.06 after 2 weeks of buserelin infusion. Thus in response to continuous buserelin exposure, the gonadotrophin releases excessive amounts of LH having predominant LH-alpha immunoreactivity. The effective loss of LH bioactivity would be related to decreased LH-beta subunits. The significance of high levels of LH-alpha subunits. The significance of high levels of LH-alpha or possibly modified LH molecules remains to be evaluated during GnRH agonist treatment using well characterized assays.     

Saw tooth patello--femoral arthritis

Four patients with an unusual form of patello-femoral arthritis are described. The characteristic feature of the condition is an erosive 'saw tooth' pattern characteristically seen on both sides of the joint. Radiologically, this pattern is best seen on the skyline view. The other principal features are a lamellar-like pattern on slightly oblique lateral views, a smooth supra patellar erosion of the femur seen on the lateral view and cortical ridging of the lateral femoral condyle seen 'en face' on the AP projection. A possible mechanism to account for the radiological features is proposed. Anbarasu, A., Loughran, C. F. (2000). Clinical Radiology55, 767-769.     

αCaMKII controls the establishment of cocaine's reinforcing effects in mice and humans

Although addiction develops in a considerable number of regular cocaine users, molecular risk factors for cocaine dependence are still unknown. It was proposed that establishing drug use and memory formation might share molecular and anatomical pathways. Alpha-Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (αCaMKII) is a key mediator of learning and memory also involved in drug-related plasticity. The autophosphorylation of αCaMKII was shown to accelerate learning. Thus, we investigated the role of αCaMKII autophosphorylation in the time course of establishing cocaine use-related behavior in mice. We found that αCaMKII autophosphorylation-deficient αCaMKII^T286A mice show delayed establishment of conditioned place preference, but no changes in acute behavioral activation, sensitization or conditioned hyperlocomotion to cocaine (20 mg kg⁻¹, intraperitoneal). In vivo microdialysis revealed that αCaMKII^T286A mice have blunted dopamine (DA) and blocked serotonin (5-HT) responses in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and prefrontal cortex after acute cocaine administration (20 mg kg⁻¹, intraperitoneal), whereas noradrenaline responses were preserved. Under cocaine, the attenuated DA and 5-HT activation in αCaMKII^T286A mice was followed by impaired c-Fos activation in the NAcc. To translate the rodent findings to human conditions, several CAMK2A gene polymorphisms were tested regarding their risk for a fast establishment of cocaine dependence in two independent samples of regular cocaine users from Brazil (n=688) and Switzerland (n=141). A meta-analysis across both samples confirmed that CAMK2A rs3776823 TT-allele carriers display a faster transition to severe cocaine use than C-allele carriers. Together, these data suggest that αCaMKII controls the speed for the establishment of cocaine''s reinforcing effects.     

Variation of the genetic expression pattern after exposure to estradiol-17beta and 4-nonylphenol in male zebrafish (Danio rerio)

There is much concern about the increasing presence in the environment of synthetic chemicals that are able to disrupt the endocrine system. Among these compounds, 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) is one of the most studied xenoestrogens, due to its widespread accumulation in water sediment and consequent presence in fatty acid of aquatic organisms. Here, we have used a zebrafish microarray representing 16,399 genes to study the effects of 4-NP and estradiol-17β (E2) in adult male zebrafish in order to elucidate the mechanism of action of 4-NP compared with that of E2. The microarray results showed that both 4-NP and E2 induced a strong expression of vitellogenin (VTG), the sex related precursor of the yolk proteins in oviparous vertebrates. Both treatments induced elevated protein turnover upregulating genes involved in proteolysis and those that are constituents of the ribosome. Many genes regulated by 4-NP and E2 are involved in energy metabolism, oxidative stress defense mechanisms, xenobiotic metabolism, and lipid metabolism. A different pattern of expression in the two treatments was found for genes involved in oxidative stress, since E2 seems to induce the mechanism of detoxification, while 4-NP seems to inhibit this protective mechanism of the cell.Overall, these findings demonstrate that the microarray approach can contribute significantly to the understanding of expression patterns induced by E2 and 4-NP in male zebrafish. The results also demonstrate that 4-NP is able to act through an alternative pattern to that of estradiol-17β, modulating the expression of the same genes in a different manner.     

Statistical Optimization of Bioprocess Parameters for Improved Production of L-Asparaginase from Lactobacillus plantarum

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - L-asparaginase (ASNase), a tetrameric enzyme, holds comprehensive applications in food industries as a...     

Induction of deletion mutation on ompR gene of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi isolates from asymptomatic typhoid carriers to evolve attenuated strains for vaccine development

Objective:To develop allenualed slrains of Salmonella enterica serorar Typhi(S.typhi) for the candidate vaccine by osmolar stress.Mothods:S.typhi SS3 and SS5 strains were isolated from asymptomatic typhoid carriers in Mamakkal,Tamil Nadu.India.Both strains were grown in LB(Luria Bertani) medium supplemented with various concentration of NaCl(0.1- 0.7M) respectively.The effecl of osmolar stress was determined at molecular level by PCR using MCR 06 and MCR07 primers corresponding to ompR with chromosomal DNA of S.typhi SS3 and SS5 strains.Attenuation by osmolar stress results in deletion mutation of the.S.typhi slrains was determined by agglutination assays,precipitation method.SDS PAGE analysis and by animal models.Results:The 799 bp amplified ompR gene product from wild type S.typhi SS3 and SS5 illustrate the presence of virulent gene.Interestingly,there was only a 282 bp amplified product from S.typhi SS3 and SS5 grown in the presence of 0.5.0.6 and 0.7 M NaCl.This illustrates the occurrence of deletion mutation in ompR gene al high concentration of NaCl.Furthermore,both the wildtype and mutant S.typhi outer membrane SDS-PAGF.profile reveals the differences in the expression of ompF.ompC and ompA proteins.In mice,wild type and mutant strains lethal dose(LD_(50)) were determined.The mice died within 72 h when both the wild type strains were injected intraperitoneally with 3 log CFU-mL~(-1).When the mice were injected with the mutants in same dosage,no clinical symptoms were observed;whereas the serum antibodv litre was elicited within two weeks indicated that the mutants have the ability to induce protective humoral immune response.These results suggest that S.typhi SS3 and SS5 may bo used as good candidate strains for the development of live attenuated vaccine against salmonellosis.Conclusions:This study demonstrates that the S.typhi strains were allenualed and could be good vaccine candidates in future.     

Posterior mitral leaflet aneurysm - A rare cause of mitral regurgitation

Posterior mitral leaflet aneurysm is a very rare complication of infective endocarditis. A 28-year-old athlete got admitted with fever, congestive heart failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. The echocardiogram showed large aneurysm of the posterior mitral leaflet with severe mitral regurgitation. Patient succumbed to refractory heart failure.     

Recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from L?wenstein-Jensen media contaminated with other organisms

Growth of contaminating organisms along with Mycobacterium tuberculosis on L?wenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium is common. However, there is no documented evidence on the decontamination procedure adopted in mycobacteriology laboratories to recover M. tuberculosis from the contaminants grown on LJ medium. At the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, of 1048 LJ slopes with M. tuberculosis received from intermediate reference laboratories, 98 (9%) were contaminated. Of these, 87 (89%) M. tuberculosis cultures were retrieved after decontamination with 1% cetrimide. The use of cetrimide as a decontaminating agent to retrieve M. tuberculosis cultures grown with contaminants is documented.