Perthes disease: a survey of management amongst members of the British Society for Children’s Orthopaedic Surgery (BSCOS)

The treatment of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease remains controversial. The aim of this survey was to ascertain the current management strategies of this condition amongst UK paediatric orthopaedic surgeons, with particular regard to containment procedures in the fragmentation phase. Questionnaires were distributed at the January 2006 meeting of the British Society for Children’s Orthopaedic Surgery (BSCOS) and was posted to all absent members. The results showed a great deal of variability not only in the treatment of Perthes disease, but also in the decision-making processes. Consideration must now be given to a carefully constructed national multi-centre prospective randomised controlled study into the optimum management of this disease     

The lipid raft microdomain-associated protein reggie-1/flotillin-2 is expressed in human B cells and localized at the plasma membrane and centrosome in PBMCs

Reggie-1/flotillin-2 is a plasma membrane-associated cytoplasmic protein, which defines non-caveolar raft microdomains. Reggie-1/flotillin-2 is enriched in detergent insoluble (TX100) membrane fractions (DIG), co-localizes with activated GPI-linked proteins and the fyn-kinase in neurons and T cells, and thus apparently participates in the assembly of protein complexes essential for signal transduction. In T cells activated by crosslinking the GPI-linked protein Thy-1 or by crosslinking the ganglioside GM1, reggie-1/flotillin-2 co-localizes with the T cell receptor. To determine whether reggie-1/flotillin-2 is also expressed in B cells, primary B cells from human blood and cell lines representing the developmental stages of pro, pre, mature and plasma B cells were analyzed by Western blotting, RT-PCR and immunofluorescence. Here, we show that reggie-1/flotillin-2 is expressed throughout B cell development, as well as in primary B cells, purified by cell sorting. On non-activated mature B cell Raji cell line we found reggie-1/flotillin-2 are exclusively in the detergent (TX100) insoluble membrane fractions that are staining positive for the raft marker GM1. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that reggie-1/flotillin-2 is localized at the plasma membrane and marks intracellular spots in PBMCs. Confocal co-localization studies showed that reggie-1/flotillin-2 is associated with the plasma membrane, and the centrosomes (microtubule organizing centers) in these PBMCs. Comparison of reggie-1/flotillin-2 cDNA sequences with the genomic sequence database allowed us to determine the exon/intron structures in mouse and human. The gene organizations are highly conserved suggesting an important function of reggie-1/flotillin-2. Since reggie/flotillin proteins co-cluster with the T cell receptor and fyn kinases upon T cell stimulation, our findings of reggie-1/flotillin-2 in B cells suggest a similar role in B cell function.     

A No-Reference Image Quality Measure for Blurred and Compressed Images Using Sparsity Features

Images can be distorted in the real world via many sources like faulty sensors, artifacts generated by compression algorithms, defocus, faulty lens, and poor lighting conditions. Our biological vision system can identify the quality of image by looking at the images, but developing an algorithm to assess the quality of an image is a very challenging task as an image can be corrupted by different types of distortions and statistical properties of different types of distortions are dissimilar. The main objective of this article is to propose an image quality assessment technique for images corrupted by blurring and compression-based artifacts. Machine learning-based approaches have been used in recent times to perform this task. Images can be analyzed in different transform domains like discrete cosine transform domain, wavelet domains, curvelet domains, and singular value decomposition. These domains generate sparse matrices. In this paper, we propose no-reference image quality assessment algorithms for images corrupted by blur and different compression algorithms using sparsity-based features computed from different domains and all features pooled by support vector regression. The proposed model has been tested on three standard image quality assessment datasets LIVE, CSIQ, and TID2013, and correlation with subjected human opinion scores has been presented along with comparative study with state-of-the-art quality measures. Experiments run on standard image quality databases show that the results obtained are outperforming the existing results.     

Aldosterone-mediated regulation of ENaC α, β, and γ subunit proteins in rat kidney

Aldosterone stimulates sodium transport in the renal collecting duct by activating the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). To investigate the basis of this effect, we have developed a novel set of rabbit polyclonal antibodies to the 3 subunits of ENaC and have determined the abundance and distribution of ENaC subunits in the principal cells of the rat renal collecting duct. Elevated circulating aldosterone (due to either dietary NaCl restriction or aldosterone infusion) markedly increased the abundance of alphaENaC protein without increasing the abundance of the beta and gamma subunits. Thus, alphaENaC is selectively induced by aldosterone. In addition, immunofluorescence immunolocalization showed a striking redistribution in ENaC labeling to the apical region of the collecting duct principal cells. Finally, aldosterone induced a shift in molecular weight of gammaENaC from 85 kDa to 70 kDa, consistent with physiological proteolytic clipping of the extracellular loop as postulated previously. Thus, at the protein level, the response of ENaC to aldosterone stimulation is heterogenous, with both quantitative and qualitative changes that can explain observed increases in ENaC-mediated sodium transport.     

Evidence for two different modes of tripeptide disappearance in human intestine. Uptake by peptide carrier systems and hydrolysis by peptide hydrolases.

The intestinal fate of two tripeptides (triglycine and trileucine), which differ markedly in solubility and molecular weight, have been investigated by jejunal perfusion in healthy human volunteers. Rates of glycine or leucine uptake from test solutions containing triglycine or trileucine were greater than from test solutions containing corresponding amounts of free glycine or free leucine, respectively. The rate of glycine uptake from a 100 mM triglycine solution was greater than that from a 150 mM diglycine solution. At each infused load of triglycine (e.g., 1,000 mumol/min) the rates (micromoles/minutes per 30 cm) of either triglycine disappearance (810 +/- 40) or glycine absorption (2,208 +/- 122) were markedly greater than the luminal accumulation rates of either diglycine (56 +/- 10) or free glycine (110 +/- 18). The luminal accumulation rate of free leucine during infusion of a 5 mM trileucine solution was over threefold greater than that of free glycine during the infusion of a 5 mM triglycine solution. Luminal fluid exhibited no hydrolytic activity against triglycine, but contained some activity against trileucine. Saturation of free amino acid carrier system with a large load of leucine did not affect glycine absorption rate from a triglycine test solution, but isoleucine markedly inhibited the uptake from a trileucine solution. When the carrier system for dipeptides was saturated with a large amount of glycylleucine, the disappearance rate of triglycine was considerably reduced while that of trileucine remained unaffected. After addition of glycylleucine to tripeptide solutions, there was a minimal increase in the luminal accumulation of diglycine, while dileucine accumulation was incresed by 62-fold.     

Hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma of the base of tongue: a distinct and rare entity

Hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma (HCCC) of tongue is a rare neoplasm originating from minor salivary glands. We present a case of HCCC involving the base of tongue, in a 73-year-old male, clinically diagnosed as fibroma. Laser excision of the mass was done. Histopathological examination showed an infiltrating lesion composed predominantly of clear cells. The differential diagnosis included other salivary gland lesions having a clear cell component and metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was useful in ruling out these lesions exhibiting clear cell component from clear cell carcinoma. Imaging studies revealed no lesion in either kidney. Since, HCCC has a better prognosis and the adequate treatment is wide excision, it needs to be differentiated from other carcinomas with clear cells. No further therapy was given to the patient. One year after the surgery, the patient is symptom free without local recurrence and on regular follow up.     

Fluorescence spectra of blood components for breast cancer diagnosis

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether fluorescence emission spectroscopy of blood components can differentiate normal from early and advanced stages of breast cancer using stepwise discriminant analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fluorescence emission spectra were measured for blood components of three different groups: 35 normal controls, 28 with early-stage, and 18 with advanced-stage breast cancer. The data from the spectra were subjected to Fisher's linear discriminant analysis. Classification accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of the technique were calculated for breast cancer diagnosis. RESULTS: Fluorescence emission spectra of blood components accurately distinguished normal from early-stage and advanced-stage breast cancer in 91.4% of original cases and 90.1% for cross-validated cases. The sensitivity and specificity were 80.4% and 100%, respectively, in distinguishing subjects with breast cancer from normal controls. CONCLUSION: Our statistical evaluation indicates that porphyrin in blood can be used as a reliable tumor marker. Fluorescence emission spectroscopy of blood components and statistical evaluations should be further investigated for a variety of tumors.     

The role of stem cell factor and c‐KIT in keloid pathogenesis: do tyrosine kinase inhibitors have a potential therapeutic role?

Background Keloids are fibroproliferative disorders characterized by increased deposition of extracellular matrix components. Stem cell factor (SCF) and its receptor c‐KIT are expressed in a wide variety of cells and have also been demonstrated to be important modulators of the wound healing process. Objectives To examine the role of the SCF/c‐KIT system in keloid pathogenesis. Methods Immunohistochemical staining and Western blot analyses were used to examine localization and expression of SCF and c‐KIT in keloid and normal skin tissue. This was followed by the detection of SCF and c‐KIT expression in fibroblasts cultured in vitro and fibroblasts exposed to serum. To investigate the effect of epithelial–mesenchymal interactions, a two‐chamber system was employed in which keratinocytes on membrane inserts were cocultured with the fibroblasts. SCF and c‐KIT expression levels in all cell extracts and conditioned media were assayed by Western blotting. In another set of experiments, the effect of imatinib (Glivec^®, Gleevec^®; Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland) on keloid fibroblasts was examined. Results SCF and c‐KIT were upregulated in keloid scar tissue and in cultured fibroblasts stimulated with serum, highlighting their importance in the initial phase of wound healing. We further demonstrated that epithelial–mesenchymal interactions, mimicked by coculture of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in vitro, not only stimulated secretion of the soluble form of SCF in keloid cocultures but also brought about shedding of the extracellular domain of c‐KIT perhaps by upregulation of tumour necrosis factor‐α converting enzyme which was also upregulated in keloid scars in vivo and keloid cocultures in vitro. In addition keloid cocultures expressed increased levels of phosphorylated c‐KIT highlighting an activation of the SCF/c‐KIT system. Finally, we demonstrated that imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, may be a possible therapeutic agent for keloids. Conclusion These data indicate that the SCF/c‐KIT system plays an important role in scar pathogenesis, and underscore the role of imatinib as a key therapeutic agent in keloid scars.