Myoepithelial carcinoma of the submandibular gland: report of a case with multiple cutaneous metastases

Myoepithelial carcinoma is a rare and aggressive neoplasm of the salivary glands. One-third of the patients may develop regional distant metastases, and lungs and kidneys have been regarded as the most usual sites for implantation. There is, however, little information on the metastatic behavior of this malignancy. We report the first case of patient with multiple cutaneous metastases from a myoepithelial carcinoma of the submandibular gland, which depicted a very aggressive clinical course.     

Immunogenicity of a new gorilla adenovirus vaccine candidate for COVID-19

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Effects of alanine aminotransferase inhibition on the intermediary metabolism in Sparus aurata through dietary amino-oxyacetate supplementation

In liver, through the reaction catalysed by alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alanine becomes an effective precursor for gluconeogenesis. In the present study amino-oxyacetate (AOA) was used to evaluate its effect on liver ALT activity of the carnivorous fish Sparus aurata. Moreover, the derived metabolic effects on metabolites and other key enzymes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and the pentose phosphate pathway were also studied. A dose-effect-dependent inhibition of AOA on hepatic cytosolic and mitochondrial ALT activity was observed in vitro. In vivo, AOA behaved as an inhibitor of hepatic cytosolic ALT activity. A long-term exposure to AOA increased pyruvate kinase activity in the liver irrespective of the composition of the diet supplied to fish. 1H NMR studies showed that inclusion of AOA to the diet decreased the hepatic levels of alanine, glutamate and glycogen. Moreover, 2H NMR analysis indicated a higher renewal rate for alanine in the liver of fish fed with a high-carbohydrate/low-protein diet, while AOA decreased alanine 2H-enrichment irrespective of the diet. The present study indicates that AOA-dependent inhibition of the cytosolic ALT activity could help to increase the use of dietary carbohydrate nutrients.     

Trypsin inhibitor from tamarindus indica L. seeds reduces weight gain and food consumption and increases plasmatic cholecystokinin levels

OBJECTIVES:

Seeds are excellent sources of proteinase inhibitors, some of which may have satietogenic and slimming actions. We evaluated the effect of a trypsin inhibitor from Tamarindus indica L. seeds on weight gain, food consumption and cholecystokinin levels in Wistar rats.

METHODS:

A trypsin inhibitor from Tamarindus was isolated using ammonium sulfate (30–60%) following precipitation with acetone and was further isolated with Trypsin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. Analyses were conducted to assess the in vivo digestibility, food intake, body weight evolution and cholecystokinin levels in Wistar rats. Histological analyses of organs and biochemical analyses of sera were performed.

RESULTS:

The trypsin inhibitor from Tamarindus reduced food consumption, thereby reducing weight gain. The in vivo true digestibility was not significantly different between the control and Tamarindus trypsin inhibitor-treated groups. The trypsin inhibitor from Tamarindus did not cause alterations in biochemical parameters or liver, stomach, intestine or pancreas histology. Rats treated with the trypsin inhibitor showed significantly elevated cholecystokinin levels compared with animals receiving casein or water.

CONCLUSION:

The results indicate that the isolated trypsin inhibitor from Tamarindus reduces weight gain by reducing food consumption, an effect that may be mediated by increased cholecystokinin. Thus, the potential use of this trypsin inhibitor in obesity prevention and/or treatment should be evaluated.     

Novel function of Oncostatin M as a potent tumour‐promoting agent in lung

Oncostatin M is a leukocyte product that has been reported to have anti‐proliferative effects directly on melanoma and other cancer cell lines in vitro. However, its function(s) in cancers in vivo appears complex and its roles in cancer growth in lungs are unknown. Here, we show that OSM promotes marked growth of tumour cells in mouse lungs. Local pulmonary administration of adenovirus vector expressing mouse OSM (AdOSM) induced >13‐fold increase in lung tumour burden of ectopically delivered B16‐F10 melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice. AdOSM caused increases in tumour size (14 days post‐challenge), whereas control vector (Addel70) did not. AdOSM had no such action in C57BL/6 mice deficient in the OSM receptor beta chain (OSMRβ?/?), indicating that these effects required OSMRβ expression on non‐tumour cells in the recipient mice. AdOSM induced elevated levels of chemokines and inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, elevated arginase‐1 mRNA levels (60‐fold), and increased arginase‐1+immunostaining macrophage numbers in lungs. Adherent BAL cells collected from AdOSM‐treated mice expressed elevated arginase‐1 activity. In contrast to AdOSM‐induced effects, pulmonary over‐expression of IL‐1β (AdIL‐1β) induced neutrophil accumulation and iNOS mRNA, but did not modulate tumour burden. AdOSM also increased lung tumour load (>50‐fold) upon ectopic administration of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells in vivo. However, in vitro, neither recombinant OSM nor AdOSM infection stimulated B16‐F10 or LLC cell growth directly. We conclude that pulmonary over‐expression of OSM promotes tumour growth, and does so through altering the local lung environment with accumulation of M2 macrophages.     

The association of stroke severity with health-related quality of life in survivors of acute cerebrovascular disease and their informal caregivers during the first year post stroke: a survey study

Quality of Life Research - To describe the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of caregivers and survivors of transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and stroke during one year post discharge in...     

Hipertensão arterial na grávida: o atual estado da arte

Hypertension complicates 6-8% of pregnancies and includes the following four conditions: hypertension preceding pregnancy or documented before the 20th week of gestation; pre-eclampsia (PE) / eclampsia; chronic hypertension with superimposed pre-eclampsia; and gestational hypertension. The latter is defined as a significant rise in blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy in previously normotensive women, to over 140/90 mmHg. When blood pressure remains above 160/110 mmHg, it is considered severe. PE is defined as the presence of proteinuria (≥300 mg/24 h) in pregnant women with hypertension. The hypertensive syndromes of pregnancy are among the leading causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality and anti-hypertensive treatment is part of the therapeutic arsenal used to prevent serious complications. Although the role of utero-placental insufficiency due to deficient migration of trophoblasts to the spiral arteries is universally accepted, the pathophysiology of PE remains largely unknown and is the subject of debate. No effective ways of predicting or preventing PE have been found, which highlights the need for further research in this field. This review aims primarily to evaluate recent advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of gestational hypertension and especially PE, and new ways of predicting PE. Additionally, we present a brief review on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of PE.