Expression of Hsp72 in lymphocytes in patients with febrile convulsion

The pathophysiology of febrile convulsion, the most common childhood neurologic disease, remains unclear. In this study, we investigated what role a heat shock protein plays in this disease. We enrolled eight boys and two girls with febrile convulsion and 10 age-matched healthy controls. We did a biosynthetic evaluation of both groups by separating lymphocytes and measuring the expression of heat shock protein 72 before and after heat shock treatment. Before the treatment, both groups were found to have small amounts of constitutive heat shock protein 72. Afterwards, its expression increased in both groups, and no statistical difference was found between the increases in the two groups. In addition, there was no obvious difference in the susceptibility to produce heat shock proteins. However, the febrile convulsion group was found to have a significant decrease in phosphorylation of heat shock protein 72. These results suggest the possible involvement of post-translational modification of heat shock proteins, most likely phosphorylation, in the pathogenesis of febrile convulsion.     

An instrument to evaluate pharmacists' patient counseling on herbal and dietary supplements

Objective

To develop a measure of pharmacists’ patient counseling on herbal and dietary supplements.

Methods

A systematic process was used for item generation, testing, and validation of a measure of pharmacists counseling on herbal and dietary supplements. Because a pharmacist-patient encounter may or may not identify an indication for taking an herb or dietary supplement, the instrument was bifurcated into 2 distinct components: (1) patient counseling in general; and (2) patient counseling related to herbal and dietary supplements.

Results

The instrument demonstrated high reliability and desirable construct validity. After adjusting for item difficulty, we found that pharmacists tended to provide more general patient counseling than counseling related to herbal and dietary supplements.

Conclusion

This instrument can be applied to assess the quality of counseling provided by pharmacists and pharmacy students, and the outcomes of pharmacist and pharmacy student education on herbal and dietary supplements.     

Early vitreomacular separation with delayed macular hole closure after ocriplasmin treatment

Based on the indications, one-third to one-half of patients can achieve full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) closure with or without the separation of vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) within 28 days of ocriplasmin treatment. The authors report the case of a 63-year-old man with early VMA separation and delayed FTMH closure after ocriplasmin treatment. Four weeks posttreatment, the posterior vitreous detachment occurred at the optic disk, and the macular hole (MH) started decreasing thereafter. MH closure was finally achieved at 10 weeks posttreatment, leaving minimal subretinal fluid. The patient''s vision improved from 0.8 LogMAR (pretreatment) to 0.3 LogMAR (12 weeks posttreatment). This case suggests that FTMH closure can be achieved within 28 days of ocriplasmin treatment.     

Pretreatment of curcumin attenuates coagulopathy and renal injury in LPS-induced endotoxemia

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a lethal situation in severe infections, characterized by the systemic formation of microthrombi complicated with bleeding tendency and organ dysfunction. Current clinical trials are not promising. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of curcumin in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced DIC model in rats. Experimental DIC was induced by sustained infusion of LPS (10 mg/kg body weight) for 4 h through the tail vein. Curcumin (60 mg/kg body weight) was given intraperitoneally 3 h before LPS infusion. Results showed that, in vivo, curcumin reduced the mortality rate of LPS-infused rats by decreasing the circulating TNF-alpha levels and the consumption of peripheral platelets and plasma fibrinogen. Furthermore, in vivo curcumin also has the effect of preventing the formation of fibrin deposition in the glomeruli of kidney. These results reveal the therapeutic potential of curcumin in infection-related coagulopathy of DIC.     

Previous heat shock treatment attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced hyporesponsiveness of platelets in rats

Several studies demonstrated that previous heat shock treatment caused expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and reduced organ dysfunction and mortality in experimentally induced severe sepsis. However, the protective mechanism on platelet function remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of heat shock treatment on platelet aggregation ex vivo in endotoxin-induced rats with sepsis. Rats of the heated group were heated by whole-body hyperthermia 18 h before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. Blood samples were obtained from the carotid artery 90 min after LPS injection. Platelet aggregation ability was measured by aggregometer. Results revealed that platelet aggregation ex vivo was significantly inhibited in LPS-induced rats in a manner of dose dependence. Previous heat shock treatment caused overexpression of HSPs and significantly attenuated the LPS-induced platelet hyporesponsiveness. This attenuation disappeared in accordance with absence of HSP72 at 7 days after heat shock treatment. Aggregation of normal platelets was also inhibited by incubating with plasma obtained from endotoxemic rats but not from preheated endotoxemic rats. Furthermore, no significant hyporesponsiveness was found in endotoxemic platelets in addition to preheated endotoxemic plasma. The addition of H2O2 scavenger catalase diminished the platelet hyporesponsiveness significantly only in nonheated endotoxemic rats. Moreover, the plasma nitrite and nitrate levels were significantly attenuated in preheated endotoxemic rats. These results revealed that previous heat shock treatment might attenuate LPS-induced hyporesponsiveness of platelets by changing the plasma components possibly through altering H2O2 and nitric oxide concentrations.     

Anatomical characterization of thermosensory AC neurons in the adult Drosophila brain

Temperature preference is vital for the survival of all animals. A small set of warm-activated anterior cell (AC) neurons acting as an internal thermosensor in the Drosophila brain is critical for optimal temperature selection ( Hamada et al., 2008 , Nature, 454, 217-220). Here, the authors analyze the circuit components of the AC neurons by characterization of its spatial distribution, dendrite-axon polarity, and the putative type of neurontransmitter released. The results show that the AC neurons are serotonergic, do not have any dendrites, and send axons bilaterally to the superior dorsofrontal protocerebrum (SDFP). Searching the FlyCircuit database for neurons with serotonin receptor and dendrites in the SDFP, the authors found a dorsal-anterior-lateral (DAL) neuron as a candidate postsynaptic partner of the AC neurons. In conclusion, by morphological analysis of the AC neurons, the authors show a general strategy for predicting brain circuits orchestrating thermosensory behaviors.     

Health utilities using the EQ-5D in studies of cancer

Cancer is one of the most frequent disease-specific applications of the EQ-5D. The objective of this review was to summarise evidence to support the validity and reliability of the EQ-5D in cancer, and to provide a catalogue of utility scores based on the use of the EQ-5D in clinical trials and in studies of patients with cancer. A structured literature search was conducted in EMBASE and MEDLINE to identify papers using key words related to cancer and the EQ-5D. Original research studies of patients with cancer that reported EQ-5D psychometric properties, responses and/or summary scores were included.Of 57 identified articles, 34 were selected for inclusion, where 12 studies reported evidence of validity or reliability and 31 reported EQ-5D responses or summary scores. The majority of investigations using the EQ-5D concerned patients with prostate cancer (n = 4), breast cancer (n = 4), cancers of the digestive system (n = 7) and Hodgkin and/or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 3). Mean index-based scores ranged from 0.33 (SD 0.4) to 0.93 (SD 0.12) and visual analogue scale scores ranged from 43 (SD 13.3) to 84 (SD 12.0) across subtypes of cancer. A substantial and growing body of literature using the EQ-5D in cancer that supports the validity and reliability of EQ-5D in cancer has emerged. This review provides utility estimates for cancer patients across a wide range of cancer subtypes, treatment regimens and tumour stage(s) that may inform the modelling of outcomes in economic evaluations of cancer treatment.