Impact of new technologies on diabetes care

Technologies for diabetes management, such as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, have improved remarkably over the last decades. These developments are impacting the capacity to achieve recommended hemoglobin A1c levels and assisting in preventing the development and progression of micro- and macro vascular complications. While improvements in metabolic control and decreases in risk of severe and moderate hypoglycemia have been described with use of these technologies, large epidemiological international studies show that many patients are still unable to meet their glycemic goals, even when these technologies are used. This editorial will review the impact of technology on glycemic control, hypoglycemia and quality of life in children and youth with type 1 diabetes. Technologies reviewed include CSII, CGM systems and sensor-augmented insulin pumps. In addition, the usefulness of advanced functions such as bolus profiles, bolus calculators and threshold-suspend features will be also discussed. Moreover, the current editorial will explore the challenges of using these technologies. Indeed, despite the evidence currently available of the potential benefits of using advanced technologies in diabetes management, many patients still report barriers to using them. Finally this article will highlight the importance of future studies tailored toward overcome these barriers to optimizing glycemic control and avoiding severe hypoglycemia.     

Cavo-portal transposition in rat: a new simple model

Background  

Liver transplantation in presence of diffuse portal vein thrombosis is possible by using caval blood as portal inflow, through cavo-portal transposition. However, clinical results are heterogeneous and experimental studies are needed, but similar hemodynamic conditions are difficult to obtain, especially in small animals. Herein we describe a new simple model of cavo-portal transposition in rat.     

Computer aided tracing and encoding of axonal arborizations

This paper reports a method of acquiring and codifying branching profiles of axonal arborizations. Using a microcomputer interfaced with a motor driven microscope scanning stage, an acquisition strategy was developed. This strategy allows large profiles (covering up to 1250 mm2) to be measured with an accuracy of a few microns. Each histological section is associated with a specific coordinate system. This system was found to locate the profiles with high precision and reliability in the x-y microscope stage. The overall tracing accuracy of the system is fully discussed.     

Transceive surface coil array for MRI of the human prostate at 4T.

A novel torso transceive surface coil array for prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) at 4T is presented. It is shown that with the use of a conformal transceive surface coil array with 50 Omega transmitter amplifiers and receiver preamplifiers, one can perform whole-volume torso imaging while maintaining the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) inherent to surface coil designs. Recent theoretical considerations have shown that by focusing the infringing radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field, one can achieve increased penetration and signal homogeneity compared to a conventional circularly polarized driving scheme. A variation of this driving scheme particular to the proposed coil design resulted in a twofold increase in SNR in the prostate compared to that achieved with a conventional circularly polarized driving scheme. The novel transceive surface coil array presented is capable of full-volume imaging of the human torso at 4T while maintaining signal penetration in the deep region of the prostate gland.     

Chronic headaches: pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment

Neurological Sciences - Chronic headaches have increasingly become a focus within the field of head pain. Most patients with frequent headache eventually overuse their medications, and when it...     

Genome and transcriptome scale portrait of sigma factors in Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of Johne's disease (JD), a chronic gastroenteritis of ruminants and other animals, including primates. Many evidences suggested association of MAP to Crohn's disease, a chronic granulomatous gastrointestinal disease of humans with strong similarities with JD. The present study attempts to evaluate global gene regulation in MAP, which has not been addressed previously, despite the availability of MAP genome sequence. For this purpose, we investigated: (i) the presence of sigma factors and their relationship to sigma factors of other mycobacteria (M. avium subsp.avium, M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. leprae and M. smegmatis), and (ii) their expression during different growth conditions and in vitro infection of intestinal epithelial Caco2 cells. MAP genome contains 19 putative sigma factor, but only 12 belong to gene families common to other mycobacteria. Gene expression was evaluated with Real-Time PCR during growth in 7H9 medium and mycobactin J, in 7H9 medium plus mycobactin J and lisozyme, and during infection of Caco2 cells: very different expression patterns were observed and, on the whole, only 7 sigma factors were found to be expressed. sigJ was upregulated during the infection of Caco2 cells. Even if only few sigma factors were expressed in the three conditions tested, the overall high numbers of MAP sigma factors suggests a noteworthy flexibility of this pathogen. Thus, this first report on expression of MAP sigma factors opens the way to an extensive characterization of global gene regulation, as a key to understand strategies of survival and mechanisms of infections used by this organism.     

Differentiation of the epidermis in turtle: an immunocytochemical, autoradiographic and electrophoretic analysis

Proteins involved in the process of cornification of turtle epidermis are not well known. The present immunocytochemical, electrophoretic and autoradiographic study reports on the localization patterns and molecular weights of keratins, which are cornification proteins, and of tritiated histidine in turtle epidermis. Alpha-keratins with a molecular weight of 40-62 kDa are present in the epidermis. Beta-keratin is mainly detectable in the stratum corneum of the carapace and plastron, but is rarely present or even absent in the corneous layer of limb, tail and neck epidermis. After electrophoresis and immunoblotting with an antibody against chicken scale beta-keratin, bands at 15-17, 22-24, and 36-38 kDa appeared. This antibody recognized weaker bands at 38-40 and 58-60 kDa in the soft epidermis. After reduction and carboxymethylation of proteins extracted from carapace and plastron, but not of proteins from the soft epidermis, protein bands at 15-17 and 35-37 kDa were found when using the anti-beta 1-keratin antibody. Loricrin-, filaggrin-, sciellin-, and transglutaminase-like immunostaining was detectable only in the transitional and lowermost corneous layers of the soft epidermis. Vesicular bodies in the transitional layer were immunolabeled by the anti-loricrin antibody, and weakly by the anti-filaggrin and anti-transglutaminase antibodies. In immunoblots, the anti-loricrin antibody reacted with a major band at 50-54 kDa in both carapace-plastron and soft epidermis. The anti-sciellin antibody detected major bands at 38-40 and 50 kDa in hard epidermis, and at 50 and 54-56 kDa in soft epidermis. Filaggrin-like immunostained bands were observed at 50-55 and 62-64 kDa. This immunostaining was probably due to a common epitope in filaggrin and some keratins. Histidine was evenly incorporated in the epidermis, and the ultrastructural study showed random labeling, often associated with keratin bundles of alpha and beta-keratinocytes. Histidine-labeled protein bands were not found in the carapace-plastron. In the soft epidermis, weakly labeled bands at 15-20, 25, and 45-60 kDa were found occasionally. The latter bands probably represented neo-synthesized keratins as was also indicated by the ultrastructural autoradiographic analysis. In conclusion, our study suggests that proteins with epitopes that they have in common with cornification proteins of mammalian epidermis are also present in the epidermis of turtle.