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Sample records for disease inclusion body

  1. Phenotypic variability within the inclusion body spectrum of basophilic inclusion body disease and neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease in frontotemporal lobar degenerations with FUS-positive inclusions.

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    Gelpi, Ellen; Lladó, Albert; Clarimón, Jordi; Rey, Maria Jesús; Rivera, Rosa Maria; Ezquerra, Mario; Antonell, Anna; Navarro-Otano, Judith; Ribalta, Teresa; Piñol-Ripoll, Gerard; Pérez, Anna; Valldeoriola, Francesc; Ferrer, Isidre

    2012-09-01

    Basophilic inclusion body disease and neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID) are rare diseases included among frontotemporal lobar degenerations with FUS-positive inclusions (FTLD-FUS). We report clinical and pathologic features of 2 new patients and reevaluate neuropathologic characteristics of 2 previously described cases, including an early-onset case of basophilic inclusion body disease (aged 38 years) with a 5-year disease course and abundant FUS-positive inclusion bodies and 3 NIFID cases. One NIFID case (aged 37 years) presented with early-onset psychiatric disturbances and rapidly progressive cognitive decline. Two NIFID cases had later onset (aged 64 years and 70 years) and complex neurologic deficits. Postmortem neuropathologic studies in late-onset NIFID cases disclosed α-internexin-positive "hyaline conglomerate"-type inclusions that were positive with 1 commercial anti-FUS antibody directed to residues 200 and 250, but these were negative to amino acids 90 and 220 of human FUS. Early-onset NIFID had similar inclusions that were positive with both commercial anti-FUS antibodies. Genetic testing performed on all cases revealed no FUS gene mutations. These findings indicate that phenotypic variability in NIFID, including clinical manifestations and particular neuropathologic findings, may be related to the age at onset and individual differences in the evolution of lesions.

  2. Genetics Home Reference: inclusion body myopathy with early-onset Paget disease and frontotemporal dementia

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    ... Share: Email Facebook Twitter Home Health Conditions IBMPFD Inclusion body myopathy with early-onset Paget disease and ... Javascript to view the expand/collapse boxes. Description Inclusion body myopathy with early-onset Paget disease and ...

  3. Inclusion-Body Myositis: Diagnosis

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    ... for MDA Blog Donate Search MDA.org Close Inclusion-Body Myositis (IBM) Diagnosis As with other muscle diseases, a doctor diagnoses inclusion-body myositis (IBM) by considering the individual’s personal ...

  4. Towards revealing the structure of bacterial inclusion bodies.

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    Wang, Lei

    2009-01-01

    Protein aggregation is a widely observed phenomenon in human diseases, biopharmaceutical production, and biological research. Protein aggregates are generally classified as highly ordered, such as amyloid fibrils, or amorphous, such as bacterial inclusion bodies. Amyloid fibrils are elongated filaments with diameters of 6-12 nm, they are comprised of residue-specific cross-beta structure, and display characteristic properties, such as binding with amyloid-specific dyes. Amyloid fibrils are associated with dozens of human pathological conditions, including Alzheimer disease and prion diseases. Distinguished from amyloid fibrils, bacterial inclusion bodies display apparent amorphous morphology. Inclusion bodies are formed during high-level recombinant protein production, and formation of inclusion bodies is a major concern in biotechnology. Despite of the distinctive morphological difference, bacterial inclusion bodies have been found to have some amyloid-like properties, suggesting that they might contain structures similar to amyloid-like fibrils. Recent structural data further support this hypothesis, and this review summarizes the latest progress towards revealing the structural details of bacterial inclusion bodies.

  5. Emerging therapeutic options for sporadic inclusion body myositis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfano LN

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Lindsay N Alfano, Linda P Lowes Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center for Gene Therapy, Columbus, OH, USA Abstract: Sporadic inclusion body myositis is the most common inflammatory muscle disorder preferentially affecting males over the age of 40 years. Progressive muscle weakness of the finger flexors and quadriceps muscles results in loss of independence with activities of daily living and eventual wheelchair dependence. Initial signs of disease are often overlooked and can lead to mis- or delayed diagnosis. The underlying cause of disease is unknown, and disease progression appears refractory to available treatment options. This review discusses the clinical presentation of inclusion body myositis and the current efforts in diagnosis, and focuses on the current state of research for both nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatment options for this patient group. Keywords: myositis, inclusion body myositis, inflammatory myopathy, treatment, function, outcomes

  6. Dynamic recruitment of active proteasomes into polyglutamine initiated inclusion bodies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schipper-Krom, Sabine; Juenemann, Katrin; Jansen, Anne H.; Wiemhoefer, Anne; van den Nieuwendijk, Rianne; Smith, Donna L.; Hink, Mark A.; Bates, Gillian P.; Overkleeft, Hermen; Ovaa, Huib; Reits, Eric

    2014-01-01

    Neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease are hallmarked by neuronal intracellular inclusion body formation. Whether proteasomes are irreversibly recruited into inclusion bodies in these protein misfolding disorders is a controversial subject. In addition, it has been proposed that

  7. Dynamic recruitment of active proteasomes into polyglutamine initiated inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schipper-Krom, Sabine; Juenemann, Katrin; Jansen, Anne H; Wiemhoefer, Anne; van den Nieuwendijk, Rianne; Smith, Donna L; Hink, Mark A; Bates, Gillian P; Overkleeft, Hermen; Ovaa, Huib; Reits, Eric

    2014-01-03

    Neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease are hallmarked by neuronal intracellular inclusion body formation. Whether proteasomes are irreversibly recruited into inclusion bodies in these protein misfolding disorders is a controversial subject. In addition, it has been proposed that the proteasomes may become clogged by the aggregated protein fragments, leading to impairment of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Here, we show by fluorescence pulse-chase experiments in living cells that proteasomes are dynamically and reversibly recruited into inclusion bodies. As these recruited proteasomes remain catalytically active and accessible to substrates, our results challenge the concept of proteasome sequestration and impairment in Huntington's disease, and support the reported absence of proteasome impairment in mouse models of Huntington's disease. Copyright © 2013 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. All rights reserved.

  8. Luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes for sensitive fluorescent assignment of protein inclusion bodies.

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    Klingstedt, Therése; Blechschmidt, Cristiane; Nogalska, Anna; Prokop, Stefan; Häggqvist, Bo; Danielsson, Olof; Engel, W King; Askanas, Valerie; Heppner, Frank L; Nilsson, K Peter R

    2013-03-18

    Small hydrophobic ligands identifying intracellular protein deposits are of great interest, as protein inclusion bodies are the pathological hallmark of several degenerative diseases. Here we report that fluorescent amyloid ligands, termed luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCOs), rapidly and with high sensitivity detect protein inclusion bodies in skeletal muscle tissue from patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (s-IBM). LCOs having a conjugated backbone of at least five thiophene units emitted strong fluorescence upon binding, and showed co-localization with proteins reported to accumulate in s-IBM protein inclusion bodies. Compared with conventional amyloid ligands, LCOs identified a larger fraction of immunopositive inclusion bodies. When the conjugated thiophene backbone was extended with terminal carboxyl groups, the LCO revealed striking spectral differences between distinct protein inclusion bodies. We conclude that 1) LCOs are sensitive, rapid and powerful tools for identifying protein inclusion bodies and 2) LCOs identify a wider range of protein inclusion bodies than conventional amyloid ligands. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  9. Lewy and his inclusion bodies: Discovery and rejection

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    Eliasz Engelhardt

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Fritz Jacob Heinrich Lewy described the pathology of Paralysis agitans [Parkinson disease] and was the first to identify eosinophilic inclusion bodies in neurons of certain brain nuclei, later known as Lewy bodies, the pathological signature of the Lewy body diseases. In 1912, he published his seminal study, followed soon after by an update paper, and 10 years later, in 1923, by his voluminous book, where he exhaustively described the subject. The publication provided extensive information on the pathology of Paralysis agitans, and the entirely novel finding of eosinophilic inclusion bodies, which would become widely recognized and debated in the future. His discovery was acknowledged by important researchers who even named the structure after him. However, after his last publication on the issue, inexplicably, he never mentioned his histopathological discovery again. Despite several hypotheses, the reasons that led him to neglect (reject the structure which he so preeminently described have remained elusive.

  10. Columbid herpesvirus-1 in two Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) with fatal inclusion body disease.

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    Pinkerton, Marie E; Wellehan, James F X; Johnson, April J; Childress, April L; Fitzgerald, Scott D; Kinsel, Michael J

    2008-07-01

    We report two separate naturally occurring cases of fatal herpesviral disease in Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii). Gross lesions included splenomegaly and hepatomegaly, with diffuse pale mottling or scattered small white foci. Histologic lesions included splenic and hepatic necrosis associated with eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies characteristic of herpesvirus. In one case, necrosis and inclusions were also noted in bone marrow, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, ceca, and the enteric system. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated viral particles typical of herpesvirus within hepatocyte nuclei and budding from the nuclear membrane. Herpesviral DNA was amplified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of paraffin-embedded liver and spleen, and sequence data were consistent with columbid herpesvirus-1, an alphaherpesvirus of Rock Pigeons (Columba livia). PCR results provide evidence that this disease is transmitted to raptors via Rock Pigeons, most likely through ingestion of Rock Pigeons as prey.

  11. Immunohistochemical Detection of a Unique Protein within Cells of Snakes Having Inclusion Body Disease, a World-Wide Disease Seen in Members of the Families Boidae and Pythonidae

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    Chang, Li-Wen; Fu, Ann; Wozniak, Edward; Chow, Marjorie; Duke, Diane G.; Green, Linda; Kelley, Karen; Hernandez, Jorge A.; Jacobson, Elliott R.

    2013-01-01

    Inclusion body disease (IBD) is a worldwide disease in captive boa constrictors (boa constrictor) and occasionally in other snakes of the families Boidae and Pythonidae. The exact causative agent(s) and pathogenesis are not yet fully understood. Currently, diagnosis of IBD is based on the light microscopic identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin stained tissues or blood smears. An antigenically unique 68 KDa protein was identified within the IBD inclusion bodies, called IBD protein. A validated immuno-based ante-mortem diagnostic test is needed for screening snakes that are at risk of having IBD. In this study, despite difficulties in solubilizing semi-purified inclusion bodies, utilizing hybridoma technology a mouse anti-IBD protein monoclonal antibody (MAB) was produced. The antigenic specificity of the antibody was confirmed and validated by western blots, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immuno-transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemical staining. Paraffin embedded tissues of IBD positive and negative boa constrictors (n=94) collected from 1990 to 2011 were tested with immunohistochemical staining. In boa constrictors, the anti-IBDP MAB had a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 100% in detecting IBD. The antibody also cross-reacted with IBD inclusion bodies in carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) and a ball python (python regius). This validated antibody can serve as a tool for the development of ante-mortem immunodiagnostic tests for IBD. PMID:24340066

  12. Immunohistochemical detection of a unique protein within cells of snakes having inclusion body disease, a world-wide disease seen in members of the families Boidae and Pythonidae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li-Wen Chang

    Full Text Available Inclusion body disease (IBD is a worldwide disease in captive boa constrictors (boa constrictor and occasionally in other snakes of the families Boidae and Pythonidae. The exact causative agent(s and pathogenesis are not yet fully understood. Currently, diagnosis of IBD is based on the light microscopic identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin stained tissues or blood smears. An antigenically unique 68 KDa protein was identified within the IBD inclusion bodies, called IBD protein. A validated immuno-based ante-mortem diagnostic test is needed for screening snakes that are at risk of having IBD. In this study, despite difficulties in solubilizing semi-purified inclusion bodies, utilizing hybridoma technology a mouse anti-IBD protein monoclonal antibody (MAB was produced. The antigenic specificity of the antibody was confirmed and validated by western blots, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immuno-transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemical staining. Paraffin embedded tissues of IBD positive and negative boa constrictors (n=94 collected from 1990 to 2011 were tested with immunohistochemical staining. In boa constrictors, the anti-IBDP MAB had a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 100% in detecting IBD. The antibody also cross-reacted with IBD inclusion bodies in carpet pythons (Morelia spilota and a ball python (python regius. This validated antibody can serve as a tool for the development of ante-mortem immunodiagnostic tests for IBD.

  13. [Inclusion Bodies are Formed in SFTSV-infected Human Macrophages].

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    Jin, Cong; Song, Jingdong; Han, Ying; Li, Chuan; Qiu, Peihong; Liang, Mifang

    2016-01-01

    The severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a new member in the genus Phlebovirus of the family Bunyaviridae identified in China. The SFTSV is also the causative pathogen of an emerging infectious disease: severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Using immunofluorescent staining and confocal microscopy, the intracellular distribution of nucleocapsid protein (NP) in SFTSV-infected THP-1 cells was investigated with serial doses of SFTSV at different times after infection. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the ultrafine intracellular structure of SFTSV-infected THP-1 cells at different times after infection. SFTSV NP could form intracellular inclusion bodies in infected THP-1 cells. The association between NP-formed inclusion bodies and virus production was analyzed: the size of the inclusion body formed 3 days after infection was correlated with the viral load in supernatants collected 7 days after infection. These findings suggest that the inclusion bodies formed in SFTSV-infected THP-1 cells could be where the SFTSV uses host-cell proteins and intracellular organelles to produce new viral particles.

  14. Microvillus Inclusion Disease Associated with Necrotizing Enterocolitis in a Premature Infant

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    Ersin Sayar

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Microvillus inclusion disease is one of the congenital diarrheal disorders characterized by the appearance of inclusion bodies on the intestinal epithelium. To date there are a few cases and also a few other associated finding reports related to this life-threatening disease in literature. In this report, we present a premature infant with microvillus inclusion disease that was associated with necrotizing enterocolitis. Thus, we should be aware of the appearance of necrotizing enterocolitis in patients with microvillus inclusion disease, especially when contributing factors are present.

  15. Renal pathophysiologic role of cortical tubular inclusion bodies.

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    Radi, Zaher A; Stewart, Zachary S; Grzemski, Felicity A; Bobrowski, Walter F

    2013-01-01

    Renal tubular inclusion bodies are rarely associated with drug administration. The authors describe the finding of renal cortical tubular intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies associated with the oral administration of a norepinephrine/serotonin reuptake inhibitor (NSRI) test article in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Rats were given an NSRI daily for 4 weeks, and kidney histopathologic, ultrastructural pathology, and immunohistochemical examinations were performed. Round eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies were observed histologically in the tubular epithelial cells of the renal cortex in male and female SD rats given the NSRI compound. No evidence of degeneration or necrosis was noted in the inclusion-containing renal cells. By ultrastructural pathology, inclusion bodies consisted of finely granular, amorphous, and uniformly stained nonmembrane-bound material. By immunohistochemistry, inclusion bodies stained positive for d-amino acid oxidase (DAO) protein. In addition, similar inclusion bodies were noted in the cytoplasmic tubular epithelial compartment by ultrastructural and immunohistochemical examination.  This is the first description of these renal inclusion bodies after an NSRI test article administration in SD rats. Such drug-induced renal inclusion bodies are rat-specific, do not represent an expression of nephrotoxicity, represent altered metabolism of d-amino acids, and are not relevant to human safety risk assessment.

  16. Inclusion bodies are a site of ebolavirus replication.

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    Hoenen, Thomas; Shabman, Reed S; Groseth, Allison; Herwig, Astrid; Weber, Michaela; Schudt, Gordian; Dolnik, Olga; Basler, Christopher F; Becker, Stephan; Feldmann, Heinz

    2012-11-01

    Inclusion bodies are a characteristic feature of ebolavirus infections in cells. They contain large numbers of preformed nucleocapsids, but their biological significance has been debated, and they have been suggested to be aggregates of viral proteins without any further biological function. However, recent data for other viruses that produce similar structures have suggested that inclusion bodies might be involved in genome replication and transcription. In order to study filovirus inclusion bodies, we fused mCherry to the ebolavirus polymerase L, which is found in inclusion bodies. The resulting L-mCherry fusion protein was functional in minigenome assays and incorporated into virus-like particles. Importantly, L-mCherry fluorescence in transfected cells was readily detectable and distributed in a punctate pattern characteristic for inclusion bodies. A recombinant ebolavirus encoding L-mCherry instead of L was rescued and showed virtually identical growth kinetics and endpoint titers to those for wild-type virus. Using this virus, we showed that the onset of inclusion body formation corresponds to the onset of viral genome replication, but that viral transcription occurs prior to inclusion body formation. Live-cell imaging further showed that inclusion bodies are highly dynamic structures and that they can undergo dramatic reorganization during cell division. Finally, by labeling nascent RNAs using click technology we showed that inclusion bodies are indeed the site of viral RNA synthesis. Based on these data we conclude that, rather than being inert aggregates of nucleocapsids, ebolavirus inclusion bodies are in fact complex and dynamic structures and an important site at which viral RNA replication takes place.

  17. Isolation of cell-free bacterial inclusion bodies.

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    Rodríguez-Carmona, Escarlata; Cano-Garrido, Olivia; Seras-Franzoso, Joaquin; Villaverde, Antonio; García-Fruitós, Elena

    2010-09-17

    Bacterial inclusion bodies are submicron protein clusters usually found in recombinant bacteria that have been traditionally considered as undesirable products from protein production processes. However, being fully biocompatible, they have been recently characterized as nanoparticulate inert materials useful as scaffolds for tissue engineering, with potentially wider applicability in biomedicine and material sciences. Current protocols for inclusion body isolation from Escherichia coli usually offer between 95 to 99% of protein recovery, what in practical terms, might imply extensive bacterial cell contamination, not compatible with the use of inclusion bodies in biological interfaces. Using an appropriate combination of chemical and mechanical cell disruption methods we have established a convenient procedure for the recovery of bacterial inclusion bodies with undetectable levels of viable cell contamination, below 10⁻¹ cfu/ml, keeping the particulate organization of these aggregates regarding size and protein folding features. The application of the developed protocol allows obtaining bacterial free inclusion bodies suitable for use in mammalian cell cultures and other biological interfaces.

  18. Detection and prevalence of boid inclusion body disease in collections of boas and pythons using immunological assays.

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    Chang, L; Fu, D; Stenglein, M D; Hernandez, J A; DeRisi, J L; Jacobson, E R

    2016-12-01

    Inclusion body disease (IBD) of boas and pythons is characterized by the intracytoplasmic accumulation of an antigenic 68 kDa viral protein IBDP, more recently known as the nucleoprotein (NP) of the reptarenaviruses. Blood samples of 131 captive boas and pythons (53 boa constrictors, Boa constrictor; 35 rainbow boas, Epicrates cenchria; 22 ball pythons, Python regius; 5 carpet pythons, Morelia spilota; 6 Burmese pythons, Python bivittatus; 4 Jamaican boas, Epicrates subflavus; 5 anacondas, Eunectes spp.; and 1 green tree python, Morelia viridis) were obtained from 28 collections in the USA. Diagnosis of IBD was initially made by the identification of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained blood films and isolated peripheral white blood cells (PWBC). The overall prevalence of IBD in study snakes was 25/131 or 19% (95% CI = 12.4%, 25.8%) with boa constrictors being more commonly infected (22/53 or 41.5%; 95% CI = 28.2%, 54.8%) than other species in this study. Of the 22 IBD positive boa constrictors, 87% were clinically healthy, 13% had various signs of chronic illness, and none showed signs of central nervous system disease. Using a validated monoclonal anti-NP antibody, NP was confirmed within the isolated PWBC by immunohistochemical staining and Western blots. The presence of reptarenaviruses within blood samples of 27 boa constrictors and three rainbow boas was also assessed by PCR. Among boa constrictors, very good agreements were shown between the observation of inclusion bodies (by HE stain) and the presence of NP (by immunohistochemistry, kappa = 0.92; and Western blots, kappa = 0.89), or the presence of reptarenaviruses (by PCR; kappa = 0.92). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Association of inclusion body myositis with T cell large granular lymphocytic leukaemia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greenberg, Steven A; Pinkus, Jack L; Amato, Anthony A

    2016-01-01

    SEE HOHLFELD AND SCHULZE-KOOPS DOI101093/BRAIN/AWW053 FOR A SCIENTIFIC COMMENTARY ON THIS ARTICLE: Inclusion body myositis and T cell large granular lymphocytic leukaemia are rare diseases involving pathogenic cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. After encountering four patients with both disorders, we...... prospectively screened 38 patients with inclusion body myositis for the presence of expanded large granular lymphocyte populations by standard clinical laboratory methods (flow cytometry, examination of blood smears, and T cell receptor gene rearrangements), and performed muscle immunohistochemistry for CD8, CD......57, and TIA1. Most (22/38; 58%) patients with inclusion body myositis had aberrant populations of large granular lymphocytes in their blood meeting standard diagnostic criteria for T cell large granular lymphocytic leukaemia. These T cell populations were clonal in 20/20 patients and stably present...

  20. Expression of nattokinase in Escherichia coli and renaturation of its inclusion body.

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    Ni, He; Guo, Peng-Cheng; Jiang, Wei-Ling; Fan, Xiao-Min; Luo, Xiang-Yu; Li, Hai-Hang

    2016-08-10

    Nattokinase is an important fibrinolytic enzyme with therapeutic applications for cardiovascular diseases. The full-length and mature nattokinase genes were cloned from Bacillus subtilis var. natto and expressed in pQE30 vector in Escherichia coli. The full-length gene expressed low nattokinase activity in the intracellular soluble and the medium fractions. The mature gene expressed low soluble nattokinase activity and large amount insoluble protein in inclusion bodies without enzyme activity. Large amount of refolding solutions (RSs) at different pH values were screening and RS-10 and RS-11 at pH 9 were selected to refold nattokinase inclusion bodies. The recombinant cells were lysed with 0.1mg/mL lysozyme and ultrasonic treatment. After centrifugation, the pellete was washed twice with 20mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5) containing 1% Triton X-100 to purify the inclusion bodies. The inclusion bodies were dissolved in water at pH 12.0 and refolded with RS-10. The refolded proteins showed 42.8IU/mg and 79.3IU/mg fibrinolytic activity by the traditional dilution method (20-fold dilution into RS-10) and the directly mixing the protein solution with equal volume RS-10, respectively, compared to the 52.0IU/mg of total water-soluble proteins from B. subtilis var. natto. This work demonstrated that the inclusion body of recombinant nattokinase expressed in E. coli could be simply refolded to the natural enzyme activity level by directly mixing the protein solution with equal volume refolding solution. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Inclusion bodies in loggerhead erythrocytes are associated with unstable hemoglobin and resemble human Heinz bodies.

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    Basile, Filomena; Di Santi, Annalisa; Caldora, Mercedes; Ferretti, Luigi; Bentivegna, Flegra; Pica, Alessandra

    2011-08-01

    The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the erythrocyte inclusions found during the hematological screening of loggerhead population of the Mediterranean Sea. We studied the erythrocyte inclusions in blood specimens collected from six juvenile and nine adult specimens of the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, from the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas. Our study indicates that the percentage of mature erythrocytes containing inclusions ranged from 3 to 82%. Each erythrocyte contained only one round inclusion body. Inclusion bodies stained with May Grünwald-Giemsa show that their cytochemical and ultrastructure characteristics are identical to those of human Heinz bodies. Because Heinz bodies originate from the precipitation of unstable hemoglobin (Hb) and cause globular osmotic resistance to increase, we analyzed loggerhead Hb using electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography to detect and quantitate Hb fractions. We also tested the resistance of Hb to alkaline pH, heat, isopropanol denaturation, and globular osmosis. Our hemogram results excluded the occurrence of any infection, which could be associated with an inclusion body, in all the specimens. Negative Feulgen staining indicated that the inclusion bodies are not derived from DNA fragmentation. We hypothesize that amino acid substitutions could explain why loggerhead Hb precipitates under normal physiologic conditions, forming Heinz bodies. The identification of inclusion bodies in loggerhead erythrocytes allow us to better understand the haematological characteristics and the physiology of these ancient reptiles, thus aiding efforts to conserve such an endangered species. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company.

  2. Inclusion body myositis.

    OpenAIRE

    Garlepp, M J; Mastaglia, F L

    1996-01-01

    The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a heterogenous group of rare disorders that share many similarities. In addition to sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM), these include dematomyositis (DM), polymyositis (PM), and autoimmune necrotizing myopathy (NM). For discussion of later three disorders, the reader is referred to the IIM review in this issue. IBM is the most common IIM after age 50. It typically presents with chronic insidious proximal leg and/or distal arm asymmetric mus...

  3. Genetics Home Reference: familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies

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    ... Home Health Conditions FENIB Familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies Printable PDF Open All Close All Enable ... expand/collapse boxes. Description Familial encephalopathy with neuroserpin inclusion bodies ( FENIB ) is a disorder that causes progressive ...

  4. Cytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A autoantibody profile and clinical characteristics in inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilleker, J B; Rietveld, A; Pye, S R; Mariampillai, K; Benveniste, O; Peeters, M T J; Miller, J A L; Hanna, M G; Machado, P M; Parton, M J; Gheorghe, K R; Badrising, U A; Lundberg, I E; Sacconi, S; Herbert, M K; McHugh, N J; Lecky, B R F; Brierley, C; Hilton-Jones, D; Lamb, J A; Roberts, M E; Cooper, R G; Saris, C G J; Pruijn, G J M; Chinoy, H; van Engelen, B G M

    2017-05-01

    Autoantibodies directed against cytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A have been identified in many patients with inclusion body myositis. This retrospective study investigated the association between anticytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A antibody status and clinical, serological and histopathological features to explore the utility of this antibody to identify inclusion body myositis subgroups and to predict prognosis. Data from various European inclusion body myositis registries were pooled. Anticytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A status was determined by an established ELISA technique. Cases were stratified according to antibody status and comparisons made. Survival and mobility aid requirement analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression. Data from 311 patients were available for analysis; 102 (33%) had anticytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A antibodies. Antibody-positive patients had a higher adjusted mortality risk (HR 1.89, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.21, p=0.019), lower frequency of proximal upper limb weakness at disease onset (8% vs 23%, adjusted OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.68, p=0.005) and an increased prevalence of excess of cytochrome oxidase deficient fibres on muscle biopsy analysis (87% vs 72%, adjusted OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.17 to 6.66, p=0.020), compared with antibody-negative patients. Differences were observed in clinical and histopathological features between anticytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A antibody positive and negative patients with inclusion body myositis, and antibody-positive patients had a higher adjusted mortality risk. Stratification of inclusion body myositis by anticytosolic 5'-nucleotidase 1A antibody status may be useful, potentially highlighting a distinct inclusion body myositis subtype with a more severe phenotype. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  5. Human Metapneumovirus Induces Formation of Inclusion Bodies for Efficient Genome Replication and Transcription.

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    Cifuentes-Muñoz, Nicolás; Branttie, Jean; Slaughter, Kerri Beth; Dutch, Rebecca Ellis

    2017-12-15

    Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) causes significant upper and lower respiratory disease in all age groups worldwide. The virus possesses a negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome of approximately 13.3 kb encapsidated by multiple copies of the nucleoprotein (N), giving rise to helical nucleocapsids. In addition, copies of the phosphoprotein (P) and the large RNA polymerase (L) decorate the viral nucleocapsids. After viral attachment, endocytosis, and fusion mediated by the viral glycoproteins, HMPV nucleocapsids are released into the cell cytoplasm. To visualize the subsequent steps of genome transcription and replication, a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) protocol was established to detect different viral RNA subpopulations in infected cells. The FISH probes were specific for detection of HMPV positive-sense RNA (+RNA) and viral genomic RNA (vRNA). Time course analysis of human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cells infected with HMPV revealed the formation of inclusion bodies (IBs) from early times postinfection. HMPV IBs were shown to be cytoplasmic sites of active transcription and replication, with the translation of viral proteins being closely associated. Inclusion body formation was consistent with an actin-dependent coalescence of multiple early replicative sites. Time course quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis suggested that the coalescence of inclusion bodies is a strategy to efficiently replicate and transcribe the viral genome. These results provide a better understanding of the steps following HMPV entry and have important clinical implications. IMPORTANCE Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a recently discovered pathogen that affects human populations of all ages worldwide. Reinfections are common throughout life, but no vaccines or antiviral treatments are currently available. In this work, a spatiotemporal analysis of HMPV replication and transcription in bronchial epithelial cell-derived immortal cells was performed. HMPV was shown to

  6. Inclusion body myositis. Clinical aspects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cox, Fieke Maria Elisabeth

    2014-01-01

    Sporadische inclusion body myositis (IBM) is een van de meest voor voorkomende verworven spierziekte die ontstaat na het 50e levensjaar. In dit proefschrift worden de klinische aspecten van sporadische IBM beschreven. Uit de studie met betrekking tot het natuurlijk beloop blijkt dat de ziekte niet

  7. Creating Inclusive Physical Activity Spaces: The Case of Body-Positive Yoga.

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    Pickett, Andrew C; Cunningham, George B

    2017-09-01

    Within the modern cultural climate, those in larger bodies face high levels of weight stigma, particularly in sport and physical activity spaces, which serves as a strong barrier to their participation. However, given the strong link between physical activity and general health and well-being for participants, it is important to explore strategies that encourage participation of these individuals. Thus, the current research examined strategies that physical activity instructors use to develop inclusive exercise spaces for all body sizes. This study employed a series of semistructured qualitative interviews (n = 9) with instructors of body-inclusive yoga classes to explore the ways in which they encourage participation for those in larger bodies. Emergent themes from the current study suggested support for 6 factors for creating body-inclusive physical activity spaces: authentic leadership, a culture of inclusion, a focus on health, inclusive language, leader social activism, and a sense of community. This study revealed that leaders must intentionally cultivate inclusion in their spaces to encourage those in nonconforming bodies to participate. These findings have important health and management implications for the sport and physical activity context and provide a basic outline of practical strategies that practitioners can use to foster inclusion in their spaces.

  8. Inclusion bodies of aggregated hemosiderins in liver macrophages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Hisao; Tatsumi, Yasuaki; Wakusawa, Shinya; Shigemasa, Ryota; Koide, Ryoji; Tsuchida, Ken-Ichi; Morotomi, Natsuko; Yamashita, Tetsuji; Kumagai, Kotaro; Ono, Yukiya; Hayashi, Kazuhiko; Ishigami, Masatoshi; Goto, Hidemi; Kato, Ayako; Kato, Koichi

    2017-12-01

    Hemosiderin formation is a structural indication of iron overload. We investigated further adaptations of the liver to excess iron. Five patients with livers showing iron-rich inclusions larger than 2 µm were selected from our database. The clinical features of patients and structures of the inclusions were compared with those of 2 controls with mild iron overload. All patients had severe iron overload with more than 5000 ng/mL of serum ferritin. Etiologies were variable, from hemochromatosis to iatrogenic iron overload. Their histological stages were either portal fibrosis or cirrhosis. Inclusion bodies were ultra-structurally visualized as aggregated hemosiderins in the periportal macrophages. X-ray analysis always identified, in addition to a large amount of iron complexes including oxygen and phosphorus, a small amount of copper and sulfur in the mosaic matrixes of inclusions. There were no inclusions in the control livers. Inclusion bodies, when the liver is loaded with excess iron, may appear in the macrophages as isolated organella of aggregated hemosiderins. Trace amounts of copper-sulfur complexes were always identified in the mosaic matrices of the inclusions, suggesting cuproprotein induction against excess iron. In conclusion, inclusion formation in macrophages may be an adaptation of the liver loaded with excess iron.

  9. Corpos de inclusão citoplasmática: estudo em diversas doenças e revisão da literatura Inclusion cytoplasmic bodies: a study in several diseases and a literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosana Herminia Scola

    1996-06-01

    Full Text Available Estudamos 16 casos entre 1400 biópsias musculares que apresentavam vacúolos marginados, cujo aspecto histológico sugeria corpos de inclusão citoplasmáticos. Procuramos correlacionar os dados clínicos, laboratoriais e histopatológicos, a fim de determinar a especificidade dos corpos de inclusão citoplasmáticos para determinadas doenças. A creatinaquinase mostrou-se elevada em 10 casos. A eletromiografia foi anormal em todos os casos. A histoquímica muscular em 5 casos revelou uma miopatia, em 7 padrão misto, em dois desinervação e em 2 casos miopatia inflamatória. A microscopia eletrônica demonstrou a presença de filamentos em 8 casos (nucleares, dispersos no citoplasma ou na região subsarcolemal. Os pacientes foram classificados conforme a história clínica, hereditariedade, dados laboratoriais, eletrofisiológicos, histoquímicos e microscopia eletrônica Encontramos miosite com corpos de inclusão citoplasmática (4 casos, atrofia muscular espinhal juvenil (6 casos, miopatias distais (3 casos, distrofia de cinturas pélvica e escapular (2 casos e polineuropatia periférica (1 caso. Apresentamos revisão sobre a patogenia, formação e possível etiologia dos vacúolos marginados e sua relação com as diversas entidades em que foram detectados, sugerindo que não são específicos para uma única doença.Among 1400 muscle biopsies, we studied 16 cases with rimmed vacuoles, whose histology suggests cytoplasm inclusion bodies. We tried to correlate the clinical, laboratory and histopatological data in order to verify the specificity of cytoplasm inclusion bodies to certain diseases. The creatinekinase was increased in 10 cases. In all cases electromyography was abnormal. Muscle histochemistry revealed myopathy in 5 cases, mixed pattern in 7, denervation in 2 and in 2 cases, inflammatory myopathy. Electron microscopy showed the presence of filaments in 8 cases (nuclear, disseminated in cytoplasm or in the subsarcolemmal region

  10. Inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimachkie, Mazen M; Barohn, Richard J

    2014-08-01

    The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) are a heterogeneous group of rare disorders that share many similarities. In addition to sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM), these include dermatomyositis, polymyositis, and autoimmune necrotizing myopathy. IBM is the most common IIM after age 50 years. Muscle histopathology shows endomysial inflammatory exudates surrounding and invading nonnecrotic muscle fibers often accompanied by rimmed vacuoles and protein deposits. It is likely that IBM is has a prominent degenerative component. This article reviews the evolution of knowledge in IBM, with emphasis on recent developments in the field, and discusses ongoing clinical trials. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Ultrastructure of inclusion bodies in annulus cells in the degenerating human intervertebral disc.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gruber, H E; Hanley, E N

    2009-06-01

    The rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) of the cell has an architectural editing function that checks whether protein structure and three-dimensional assembly have occurred properly prior to export of newly synthesized material out of the cell. If these have been faulty, the material is retained within the rER as an inclusion body. Inclusion bodies have been identified previously in chondrocytes and osteoblasts in chondrodysplasias and osteogenesis imperfecta. Inclusion bodies in intervertebral disc cells, however, have only recently been recognized. Our objectives were to use transmission electron microscopy to analyze more fully inclusion bodies in the annulus pulposus and to study the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding cells containing inclusion bodies. ECM frequently encapsulated cells with inclusion bodies, and commonly contained prominent banded aggregates of Type VI collagen. Inclusion body material had several morphologies, including relatively smooth, homogeneous material, or a rougher, less homogeneous feature. Such findings expand our knowledge of the fine structure of the human disc cell and ECM during disc degeneration, and indicate the potential utility of ultrastructural identification of discs with intracellular inclusion bodies as a screening method for molecular studies directed toward identification of defective gene products in degenerating discs.

  12. Formation of distinct inclusion bodies by inhibition of ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Junho; Yang, Kyu-Hwan; Joe, Cheol O.; Kang, Seok-Seong

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Distinct inclusion bodies are developed by inhibition of UPP and ALP. → The inclusion bodies differ in morphology, localization and formation process. → The inclusion bodies are distinguishable by the localization of TSC2. → Inhibition of both UPP and ALP simultaneously induces those inclusion bodies. -- Abstract: Accumulation of misfolded proteins is caused by the impairment of protein quality control systems, such as ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) and autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP). In this study, the formation of inclusion bodies was examined after the blockade of UPP and/or ALP in A549 cells. UPP inhibition induced a single and large inclusion body localized in microtubule-organizing center. Interestingly, however, ALP inhibition generated dispersed small inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm. Tuberous sclerosis complex 2 was selectively accumulated in the inclusion bodies of UPP-inhibited cells, but not those of ALP-inhibited cells. Blockade of transcription and translation entirely inhibited the formation of inclusion body induced by UPP inhibition, but partially by ALP inhibition. Moreover, the simultaneous inhibition of two protein catabolic pathways independently developed two distinct inclusion bodies within a single cell. These findings clearly demonstrated that dysfunction of each catabolic pathway induced formation and accumulation of unique inclusion bodies on the basis of morphology, localization and formation process in A549 cells.

  13. Cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A autoantibody profile and clinical characteristics in inclusion body myositis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rietveld, A; Pye, S R; Mariampillai, K; Benveniste, O; Peeters, M T J; Miller, J A L; Hanna, M G; Machado, P M; Parton, M J; Gheorghe, K R; Badrising, U A; Lundberg, I E; Sacconi, S; Herbert, M K; McHugh, N J; Lecky, B R F; Brierley, C; Hilton-Jones, D; Lamb, J A; Roberts, M E; Cooper, R G; Saris, C G J; Pruijn, G J M; Chinoy, H; van Engelen, B G M

    2017-01-01

    Objectives Autoantibodies directed against cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A have been identified in many patients with inclusion body myositis. This retrospective study investigated the association between anticytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A antibody status and clinical, serological and histopathological features to explore the utility of this antibody to identify inclusion body myositis subgroups and to predict prognosis. Materials and methods Data from various European inclusion body myositis registries were pooled. Anticytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A status was determined by an established ELISA technique. Cases were stratified according to antibody status and comparisons made. Survival and mobility aid requirement analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results Data from 311 patients were available for analysis; 102 (33%) had anticytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A antibodies. Antibody-positive patients had a higher adjusted mortality risk (HR 1.89, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.21, p=0.019), lower frequency of proximal upper limb weakness at disease onset (8% vs 23%, adjusted OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.68, p=0.005) and an increased prevalence of excess of cytochrome oxidase deficient fibres on muscle biopsy analysis (87% vs 72%, adjusted OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.17 to 6.66, p=0.020), compared with antibody-negative patients. Interpretation Differences were observed in clinical and histopathological features between anticytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A antibody positive and negative patients with inclusion body myositis, and antibody-positive patients had a higher adjusted mortality risk. Stratification of inclusion body myositis by anticytosolic 5′-nucleotidase 1A antibody status may be useful, potentially highlighting a distinct inclusion body myositis subtype with a more severe phenotype. PMID:28122761

  14. Protein recovery from inclusion bodies of Escherichia coli using mild solubilization process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Anupam; Upadhyay, Vaibhav; Upadhyay, Arun Kumar; Singh, Surinder Mohan; Panda, Amulya Kumar

    2015-03-25

    Formation of inclusion bodies in bacterial hosts poses a major challenge for large scale recovery of bioactive proteins. The process of obtaining bioactive protein from inclusion bodies is labor intensive and the yields of recombinant protein are often low. Here we review the developments in the field that are targeted at improving the yield, as well as quality of the recombinant protein by optimizing the individual steps of the process, especially solubilization of the inclusion bodies and refolding of the solubilized protein. Mild solubilization methods have been discussed which are based on the understanding of the fact that protein molecules in inclusion body aggregates have native-like structure. These methods solubilize the inclusion body aggregates while preserving the native-like protein structure. Subsequent protein refolding and purification results in high recovery of bioactive protein. Other parameters which influence the overall recovery of bioactive protein from inclusion bodies have also been discussed. A schematic model describing the utility of mild solubilization methods for high throughput recovery of bioactive protein has also been presented.

  15. Comparison of weakness progression in inclusion body myositis during treatment with methotrexate or placebo

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Badrising, UA; Maat-Schieman, MLC; Ferrari, MD; Zwinderman, AH; Wessels, JAM; Breedveld, FC; van Doorn, PA; van Engelen, BGM; Hoogendijk, JE; Howeler, CJ; de Jager, AE; Jennekens, FGI; Koehler, PJ; de Visser, M; Viddeleer, A; Verschuuren, JJ; Wintzen, AR

    We investigated whether 5 to 20mg per week oral methotrexate could slow down disease progression in 44 patients with inclusion body myositis in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study over 48 weeks. Mean change of quantitative muscle strength testing sum scores was the primary study

  16. Identification, characterization, and in vitro culture of highly divergent arenaviruses from boa constrictors and annulated tree boas: candidate etiological agents for snake inclusion body disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stenglein, Mark D; Sanders, Chris; Kistler, Amy L; Ruby, J Graham; Franco, Jessica Y; Reavill, Drury R; Dunker, Freeland; Derisi, Joseph L

    2012-01-01

    Inclusion body disease (IBD) is an infectious fatal disease of snakes typified by behavioral abnormalities, wasting, and secondary infections. At a histopathological level, the disease is identified by the presence of large eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions in multiple tissues. To date, no virus or other pathogen has been definitively characterized or associated with the disease. Using a metagenomic approach to search for candidate etiologic agents in snakes with confirmed IBD, we identified and de novo assembled the complete genomic sequences of two viruses related to arenaviruses, and a third arenavirus-like sequence was discovered by screening an additional set of samples. A continuous boa constrictor cell line was established and used to propagate and isolate one of the viruses in culture. Viral nucleoprotein was localized and concentrated within large cytoplasmic inclusions in infected cells in culture and tissues from diseased snakes. In total, viral RNA was detected in 6/8 confirmed IBD cases and 0/18 controls. These viruses have a typical arenavirus genome organization but are highly divergent, belonging to a lineage separate from that of the Old and New World arenaviruses. Furthermore, these viruses encode envelope glycoproteins that are more similar to those of filoviruses than to those of other arenaviruses. These findings implicate these viruses as candidate etiologic agents of IBD. The presence of arenaviruses outside mammals reveals that these viruses infect an unexpectedly broad range of species and represent a new reservoir of potential human pathogens. Inclusion body disease (IBD) is a common infectious disease of captive snakes. IBD is fatal and can cause the loss of entire animal collections. The cause of the disease has remained elusive, and no treatment exists. In addition to being important to pet owners, veterinarians, breeders, zoological parks, and aquariums, the study of animal disease is significant since animals are the source of

  17. In vitro folding of inclusion body proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudolph, R; Lilie, H

    1996-01-01

    Insoluble, inactive inclusion bodies are frequently formed upon recombinant protein production in transformed microorganisms. These inclusion bodies, which contain the recombinant protein in an highly enriched form, can be isolated by solid/liquid separation. After solubilization, native proteins can be generated from the inactive material by using in vitro folding techniques. New folding procedures have been developed for efficient in vitro reconstitution of complex hydrophobic, multidomain, oligomeric, or highly disulfide-bonded proteins. These protocols take into account process parameters such as protein concentration, catalysis of disulfide bond formation, temperature, pH, and ionic strength, as well as specific solvent ingredients that reduce unproductive side reactions. Modification of the protein sequence has been exploited to improve in vitro folding.

  18. Mineralization of alpha-1-antitrypsin inclusion bodies in Mmalton alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callea, Francesco; Giovannoni, Isabella; Francalanci, Paola; Boldrini, Renata; Faa, Gavino; Medicina, Daniela; Nobili, Valerio; Desmet, Valeer J; Ishak, Kamal; Seyama, Kuniaki; Bellacchio, Emanuele

    2018-05-16

    Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency (AATD) of Z, Mmalton, Siiyama type is associated with liver storage of the mutant proteins and liver disease. The Z variant can be diagnosed on isoelectric focusing (IEF) while Mmalton and Siiyama may be missed or misdiagnosed with this technique. Therefore, molecular analysis is mandatory for their characterization. In particular, that holds true for the Mmalton variant as on IEF profile it resembles the wild M2 subtype. This is a retrospective analysis involving review of medical records and of liver biopsy specimens from a series of Mmalton, Z and Siiyama Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency patients. The review has been implemented by additional histological stains, electron microscopic observations and 3-D modeling studies of the sites of the mutations. Z, Mmalton and Siiyama liver specimen contained characteristic intrahepatocytic PAS-D globules. The globules differed in the three variants as only Mmalton cases showed dark basophilic precipitates within the AAT inclusions. The precipitates were visualized in haematoxylin-eosin (H.E.) stained preparations and corresponded to calcium precipitates as demonstrated by von Kossa staining. On immunohistochemistry, ZAAT inclusions were stained by polyclonal as well as monoclonal noncommercial anti-AAT antibody (AZT11), whilst Mmalton and Siiyama inclusion bodies remained negative with the monoclonal anti-Z antibody. 3-D protein analysis allowed to predict more severe misfolding of the Mmalton molecule as compared to Z and Siiyama that could trigger anomalous interaction with endoplasmic reticulum chaperon proteins, namely calcium binding proteins. Mmalton AAT inclusion bodies contain calcium precipitates inside them that allow the differential diagnosis with Siiyama and ZAAT inclusions in routine histological sections. The study has confirmed the specificity of the monoclonal AZT11 for the Z mutant. Thus, the combination of these two features is crucial for the distinction between the

  19. Detection of novel divergent arenaviruses in boid snakes with inclusion body disease in The Netherlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodewes, R; Kik, M J L; Raj, V Stalin; Schapendonk, C M E; Haagmans, B L; Smits, S L; Osterhaus, A D M E

    2013-06-01

    Arenaviruses are bi-segmented negative-stranded RNA viruses, which were until recently only detected in rodents and humans. Now highly divergent arenaviruses have been identified in boid snakes with inclusion body disease (IBD). Here, we describe the identification of a new species and variants of the highly divergent arenaviruses, which were detected in tissues of captive boid snakes with IBD in The Netherlands by next-generation sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete sequence of the open reading frames of the four predicted proteins of one of the detected viruses revealed that this virus was most closely related to the recently identified Golden Gate virus, while considerable sequence differences were observed between the highly divergent arenaviruses detected in this study. These findings add to the recent identification of the highly divergent arenaviruses in boid snakes with IBD in the United States and indicate that these viruses also circulate among boid snakes in Europe.

  20. [In vitro renaturation of proteins from inclusion bodies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porowińska, Dorota; Marszałek, Ewelina; Wardęcka, Paulina; Komoszyński, Michał

    2012-06-11

    Recombinant proteins and enzymes are commonly used in many areas of our life, such as diagnostics, industry and medicine, due to heterologous synthesis in prokaryotic expression systems. However, a high expression level of foreign protein in bacteria cells results in formation of inactive and insoluble aggregates--inclusion bodies. Reactivation of aggregated proteins is a complex and time-consuming process. Every protein requires experimental optimization of the process conditions. The choice of the refolding method depends on the type of recombinant protein and its physical, chemical and biological properties. Recovery of the activity of proteins accumulated in inclusion bodies can be divided into 4 steps: 1) inclusion bodies isolation, 2) solubilization of aggregates, 3) renaturation, 4) purification of catalytically active molecules. Efficiency of the refolding process depends on many physical factors and chemical and biological agents. The above parameters determine the time of the folding and prevent protein aggregation. They also assist the folding and have an influence on the solubility and stability of native molecules. To date, dilution, dialysis and chromatography are the most often used methods for protein refolding.

  1. Should body image programs be inclusive? A focus group study of college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciao, Anna C; Ohls, Olivia C; Pringle, Kevin D

    2018-01-01

    Most evidence-based body image programs for college students (e.g., the Body Project) are designed for female-only audiences, although body dissatisfaction is not limited to female-identified individuals. Furthermore, programs do not explicitly discuss diversity, although individuals with marginalized gender, racial, and sexual identities may be particularly vulnerable to body image disturbances. Making programs more inclusive may increase their disseminability. This qualitative study examined the feasibility of adapting the Body Project for universal and inclusive use with college students. Participants (N = 36; M age = 21.66 years; 73% female-identified; 20% sexual minority; 23% racial minority) attended one of five semi-structured focus groups to explore the inclusivity of appearance-based cultural norms using adapted Body Project activities and discuss the feasibility of universal and inclusive interventions. Inductive qualitative content analysis with three-rater consensus identified focus group themes. There was consensus that inclusive interventions could have a positive impact (broadening perspectives, normalizing body image concerns, increasing awareness) despite potential barriers (poor diversity representation, vulnerability). There was strong consensus regarding advice for facilitating inclusive interventions (e.g., skilled facilitation, education, increasing diversity). Results suggest that inclusive body image programs are desirable and provide a framework for creating the EVERYbody Project, a program for more universal audiences. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Myositis with endomysial cell invasion indicates inclusion body myositis even if other criteria are not fulfilled

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van de Vlekkert, J.; Hoogendijk, J. E.; de Visser, M.

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this study was to investigate if patients with endomysial mononuclear cell infiltrates invading non-necrotic fibers have a disease course consistent with inclusion body myositis (IBM), irrespective of other histopathological and clinical characteristics. All patients with a muscle

  3. Formation of distinct inclusion bodies by inhibition of ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Junho; Yang, Kyu-Hwan; Joe, Cheol O; Kang, Seok-Seong

    2011-01-14

    Accumulation of misfolded proteins is caused by the impairment of protein quality control systems, such as ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) and autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP). In this study, the formation of inclusion bodies was examined after the blockade of UPP and/or ALP in A549 cells. UPP inhibition induced a single and large inclusion body localized in microtubule-organizing center. Interestingly, however, ALP inhibition generated dispersed small inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm. Tuberous sclerosis complex 2 was selectively accumulated in the inclusion bodies of UPP-inhibited cells, but not those of ALP-inhibited cells. Blockade of transcription and translation entirely inhibited the formation of inclusion body induced by UPP inhibition, but partially by ALP inhibition. Moreover, the simultaneous inhibition of two protein catabolic pathways independently developed two distinct inclusion bodies within a single cell. These findings clearly demonstrated that dysfunction of each catabolic pathway induced formation and accumulation of unique inclusion bodies on the basis of morphology, localization and formation process in A549 cells. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Bacterial Inclusion Bodies: Discovering Their Better Half.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinas, Ursula; Garcia-Fruitós, Elena; Corchero, José Luis; Vázquez, Esther; Seras-Franzoso, Joaquin; Villaverde, Antonio

    2017-09-01

    Bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs) are functional, non-toxic amyloids occurring in recombinant bacteria showing analogies with secretory granules of the mammalian endocrine system. The scientific interest in these mesoscale protein aggregates has been historically masked by their status as a hurdle in recombinant protein production. However, progressive understanding of how the cell handles the quality of recombinant polypeptides and the main features of their intriguing molecular organization has stimulated the interest in inclusion bodies and spurred their use in diverse technological fields. The engineering and tailoring of IBs as functional protein particles for materials science and biomedicine is a good example of how formerly undesired bacterial byproducts can be rediscovered as promising functional materials for a broad spectrum of applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Tunable geometry of bacterial inclusion bodies as substrate materials for tissue engineering

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    GarcIa-Fruitos, Elena; Seras-Franzoso, JoaquIn; Vazquez, Esther; Villaverde, Antonio [CIBER en BioingenierIa, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona (Spain); Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina and Departament de Genetica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Barcelona (Spain)

    2010-05-21

    A spectrum of materials for biomedical applications is produced in bacteria, and some of them, such as metals or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are straightforwardly obtained as particulate entities. We have explored the biofabrication process of bacterial inclusion bodies, particulate proteinaceous materials (ranging from 50 to 500 nm in diameter) recently recognized as suitable for surface topographical modification and tissue engineering. Inclusion bodies have been widely described as spherical or pseudo-spherical particles with only minor morphological variability, mostly restricted to their size. Here we have identified a cellular gene in Escherichia coli (clpP) that controls the in vivo fabrication process of inclusion bodies. In the absence of the encoded protease, the dynamics of protein deposition is perturbed, resulting in unusual tear-shaped particles with enhanced surface-volume ratios. This fact modifies the ability of inclusion bodies to promote mammalian cell attachment and differentiation upon surface decoration. The implications of the genetic control of inclusion body geometry are discussed in the context of their biological fabrication and regarding the biomedical potential of these protein clusters in regenerative medicine.

  6. Tunable geometry of bacterial inclusion bodies as substrate materials for tissue engineering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    GarcIa-Fruitos, Elena; Seras-Franzoso, JoaquIn; Vazquez, Esther; Villaverde, Antonio

    2010-01-01

    A spectrum of materials for biomedical applications is produced in bacteria, and some of them, such as metals or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are straightforwardly obtained as particulate entities. We have explored the biofabrication process of bacterial inclusion bodies, particulate proteinaceous materials (ranging from 50 to 500 nm in diameter) recently recognized as suitable for surface topographical modification and tissue engineering. Inclusion bodies have been widely described as spherical or pseudo-spherical particles with only minor morphological variability, mostly restricted to their size. Here we have identified a cellular gene in Escherichia coli (clpP) that controls the in vivo fabrication process of inclusion bodies. In the absence of the encoded protease, the dynamics of protein deposition is perturbed, resulting in unusual tear-shaped particles with enhanced surface-volume ratios. This fact modifies the ability of inclusion bodies to promote mammalian cell attachment and differentiation upon surface decoration. The implications of the genetic control of inclusion body geometry are discussed in the context of their biological fabrication and regarding the biomedical potential of these protein clusters in regenerative medicine.

  7. Refolding techniques for recovering biologically active recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamaguchi, Hiroshi; Miyazaki, Masaya

    2014-02-20

    Biologically active proteins are useful for studying the biological functions of genes and for the development of therapeutic drugs and biomaterials in a biotechnology industry. Overexpression of recombinant proteins in bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, often results in the formation of inclusion bodies, which are protein aggregates with non-native conformations. As inclusion bodies contain relatively pure and intact proteins, protein refolding is an important process to obtain active recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies. However, conventional refolding methods, such as dialysis and dilution, are time consuming and, often, recovered yields of active proteins are low, and a trial-and-error process is required to achieve success. Recently, several approaches have been reported to refold these aggregated proteins into an active form. The strategies largely aim at reducing protein aggregation during the refolding procedure. This review focuses on protein refolding techniques using chemical additives and laminar flow in microfluidic chips for the efficient recovery of active proteins from inclusion bodies.

  8. Refolding Techniques for Recovering Biologically Active Recombinant Proteins from Inclusion Bodies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroshi Yamaguchi

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Biologically active proteins are useful for studying the biological functions of genes and for the development of therapeutic drugs and biomaterials in a biotechnology industry. Overexpression of recombinant proteins in bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, often results in the formation of inclusion bodies, which are protein aggregates with non-native conformations. As inclusion bodies contain relatively pure and intact proteins, protein refolding is an important process to obtain active recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies. However, conventional refolding methods, such as dialysis and dilution, are time consuming and, often, recovered yields of active proteins are low, and a trial-and-error process is required to achieve success. Recently, several approaches have been reported to refold these aggregated proteins into an active form. The strategies largely aim at reducing protein aggregation during the refolding procedure. This review focuses on protein refolding techniques using chemical additives and laminar flow in microfluidic chips for the efficient recovery of active proteins from inclusion bodies.

  9. [Solubilization Specificities Interferon beta-1b from Inclusion Bodies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhuravko, A S; Kononova, N V; Bobruskin, A I

    2015-01-01

    A new solubilization method of recombinant interferon beta-1b (IFNβ-1b) from the inclusion bodies was developed. This method allows to extract the target protein selectively in the solutions of different alcohols, such as ethanol, propanol and isopropanol. It was shown that the more effective IFNβ-1b solubilization was achieved in the 55% propanol solution. This method allowed to extract the target protein from inclusion bodies around 85-90%, and significantly reduced Escherichia coli content in the solubilizate, in comparison with standard methods.

  10. Protein misfolding specifies recruitment to cytoplasmic inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bersuker, Kirill; Brandeis, Michael; Kopito, Ron R

    2016-04-25

    Inclusion bodies (IBs) containing aggregated disease-associated proteins and polyubiquitin (poly-Ub) conjugates are universal histopathological features of neurodegenerative diseases. Ub has been proposed to target proteins to IBs for degradation via autophagy, but the mechanisms that govern recruitment of ubiquitylated proteins to IBs are not well understood. In this paper, we use conditionally destabilized reporters that undergo misfolding and ubiquitylation upon removal of a stabilizing ligand to examine the role of Ub conjugation in targeting proteins to IBs that are composed of an N-terminal fragment of mutant huntingtin, the causative protein of Huntington's disease. We show that reporters are excluded from IBs in the presence of the stabilizing ligand but are recruited to IBs after ligand washout. However, we find that Ub conjugation is not necessary to target reporters to IBs. We also report that forced Ub conjugation by the Ub fusion degradation pathway is not sufficient for recruitment to IBs. Finally, we find that reporters and Ub conjugates are stable at IBs. These data indicate that compromised folding states, rather than conjugation to Ub, can specify recruitment to IBs. © 2016 Bersuker et al.

  11. Kinetics of inclusion body formation and its correlation with the characteristics of protein aggregates in Escherichia coli.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arun K Upadhyay

    Full Text Available The objective of the research was to understand the structural determinants governing protein aggregation into inclusion bodies during expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Recombinant human growth hormone (hGH and asparaginase were expressed as inclusion bodies in E.coli and the kinetics of aggregate formation was analyzed in details. Asparaginase inclusion bodies were of smaller size (200 nm and the size of the aggregates did not increase with induction time. In contrast, the seeding and growth behavior of hGH inclusion bodies were found to be sequential, kinetically stable and the aggregate size increased from 200 to 800 nm with induction time. Human growth hormone inclusion bodies showed higher resistance to denaturants and proteinase K degradation in comparison to those of asparaginase inclusion bodies. Asparaginase inclusion bodies were completely solubilized at 2-3 M urea concentration and could be refolded into active protein, whereas 7 M urea was required for complete solubilization of hGH inclusion bodies. Both hGH and asparaginase inclusion bodies showed binding with amyloid specific dyes. In spite of its low β-sheet content, binding with dyes was more prominent in case of hGH inclusion bodies than that of asparaginase. Arrangements of protein molecules present in the surface as well as in the core of inclusion bodies were similar. Hydrophobic interactions between partially folded amphiphillic and hydrophobic alpha-helices were found to be one of the main determinants of hGH inclusion body formation. Aggregation behavior of the protein molecules decides the nature and properties of inclusion bodies.

  12. Kinetics of Inclusion Body Formation and Its Correlation with the Characteristics of Protein Aggregates in Escherichia coli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Upadhyay, Arun K.; Murmu, Aruna; Singh, Anupam; Panda, Amulya K.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of the research was to understand the structural determinants governing protein aggregation into inclusion bodies during expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) and asparaginase were expressed as inclusion bodies in E.coli and the kinetics of aggregate formation was analyzed in details. Asparaginase inclusion bodies were of smaller size (200 nm) and the size of the aggregates did not increase with induction time. In contrast, the seeding and growth behavior of hGH inclusion bodies were found to be sequential, kinetically stable and the aggregate size increased from 200 to 800 nm with induction time. Human growth hormone inclusion bodies showed higher resistance to denaturants and proteinase K degradation in comparison to those of asparaginase inclusion bodies. Asparaginase inclusion bodies were completely solubilized at 2–3 M urea concentration and could be refolded into active protein, whereas 7 M urea was required for complete solubilization of hGH inclusion bodies. Both hGH and asparaginase inclusion bodies showed binding with amyloid specific dyes. In spite of its low β-sheet content, binding with dyes was more prominent in case of hGH inclusion bodies than that of asparaginase. Arrangements of protein molecules present in the surface as well as in the core of inclusion bodies were similar. Hydrophobic interactions between partially folded amphiphillic and hydrophobic alpha-helices were found to be one of the main determinants of hGH inclusion body formation. Aggregation behavior of the protein molecules decides the nature and properties of inclusion bodies. PMID:22479486

  13. Adult cytomegalic inclusion disease in leukemia and malignant lymphoma. Report of two cases with concomitant pneumocystis infection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakamura, R M; Ichimaru, Michito; Izeki, Tetsuya

    1961-01-01

    Two cases of cytomegalic inclusion disease complicating chronic granulocytic leukemia and subacute lymphocytic leukemia in adult Japanese males in Nagasaki, Japan are reported. Both cases had concomitant pulmonary infection by pneumocystis carinii and both were exposed to the atomic bomb in 1945. It is believed these are the first reported autopsy cases of adult cytomegalic inclusion disease in which typical cytomegalic inclusion bodies were seen in the parenchymal cells of the salivary glands. Previously reported cases of adult cytomegalic inclusion disease complicating leukemia and malignant lymphoma are briefly summarized. Present knowledge of the relationship between cytomegalic and pneumocystis infections and association with lymphoma and leukemia is reviewed. The possible roles of chemotherapeutic agents and of radiation in the development of the cytomegalic and pneumocystis infections are also briefly discussed. 43 references, 4 figures, 2 tables.

  14. Application of preparative disk gel electrophoresis for antigen purification from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okegawa, Yuki; Koshino, Masanori; Okushima, Teruya; Motohashi, Ken

    2016-02-01

    Specific antibodies are a reliable tool to examine protein expression patterns and to determine the protein localizations within cells. Generally, recombinant proteins are used as antigens for specific antibody production. However, recombinant proteins from mammals and plants are often overexpressed as insoluble inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. Solubilization of these inclusion bodies is desirable because soluble antigens are more suitable for injection into animals to be immunized. Furthermore, highly purified proteins are also required for specific antibody production. Plastidic acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase: EC 6.4.1.2) from Arabidopsis thaliana, which catalyzes the formation of malonyl-CoA from acetyl-CoA in chloroplasts, formed inclusion bodies when the recombinant protein was overexpressed in E. coli. To obtain the purified protein to use as an antigen, we applied preparative disk gel electrophoresis for protein purification from inclusion bodies. This method is suitable for antigen preparation from inclusion bodies because the purified protein is recovered as a soluble fraction in electrode running buffer containing 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate that can be directly injected into immune animals, and it can be used for large-scale antigen preparation (several tens of milligrams). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Sporadic inclusion body myositis: the genetic contributions to the pathogenesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is the commonest idiopathic inflammatory muscle disease in people over 50 years old. It is characterized by slowly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy, with typical pathological changes of inflammation, degeneration and mitochondrial abnormality in affected muscle fibres. The cause(s) of sIBM are still unknown, but are considered complex, with the contribution of multiple factors such as environmental triggers, ageing and genetic susceptibility. This review summarizes the current understanding of the genetic contributions to sIBM and provides some insights for future research in this mysterious disease with the advantage of the rapid development of advanced genetic technology. An international sIBM genetic study is ongoing and whole-exome sequencing will be applied in a large cohort of sIBM patients with the aim of unravelling important genetic risk factors for sIBM. PMID:24948216

  16. Bacterial inclusion bodies as potential synthetic devices for pathogen recognition and a therapeutic substance release.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talafová, Klaudia; Hrabárová, Eva; Chorvát, Dušan; Nahálka, Jozef

    2013-02-07

    Adhesins of pathogens recognise the glycans on the host cell and mediate adherence. They are also crucial for determining the tissue preferences of pathogens. Currently, glyco-nanomaterials provide potential tool for antimicrobial therapy. We demonstrate that properly glyco-tailored inclusion bodies can specifically bind pathogen adhesins and release therapeutic substances. In this paper, we describe the preparation of tailored inclusion bodies via the conjugation of indicator protein aggregated to form inclusion bodies with soluble proteins. Whereas the indicator protein represents a remedy, the soluble proteins play a role in pathogen recognition. For conjugation, glutaraldehyde was used as linker. The treatment of conjugates with polar lysine, which was used to inactivate the residual glutaraldehyde, inhibited unwanted hydrophobic interactions between inclusion bodies. The tailored inclusion bodies specifically interacted with the SabA adhesin from Helicobacter pylori aggregated to form inclusion bodies that were bound to the sialic acids decorating the surface of human erythrocytes. We also tested the release of indicator proteins from the inclusion bodies using sortase A and Ssp DNAB intein self-cleaving modules, respectively. Sortase A released proteins in a relatively short period of time, whereas the intein cleavage took several weeks. The tailored inclusion bodies are promising "nanopills" for biomedical applications. They are able to specifically target the pathogen, while a self-cleaving module releases a soluble remedy. Various self-cleaving modules can be enabled to achieve the diverse pace of remedy release.

  17. Soni-removal of nucleic acids from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neerathilingam, Muniasamy; Mysore, Sumukh; Gandham, Sai Hari A

    2014-05-23

    Inclusion bodies (IBs) are commonly formed in Escherichia coli due to over expression of recombinant proteins in non-native state. Isolation, denaturation and refolding of these IBs is generally performed to obtain functional protein. However, during this process IBs tend to form non-specific interactions with sheared nucleic acids from the genome, thus getting carried over into downstream processes. This may hinder the refolding of IBs into their native state. To circumvent this, we demonstrate a methodology termed soni-removal which involves disruption of nucleic acid-inclusion body interaction using sonication; followed by solvent based separation. As opposed to conventional techniques that use enzymes and column-based separations, soni-removal is a cost effective alternative for complete elimination of buried and/or strongly bound short nucleic acid contaminants from IBs. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. A bibliography of high energy two-body and inclusive scattering data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gault, F.D.; Read, B.J.; Roberts, R.G.

    1977-09-01

    A bibliography is presented of the data on high energy two-body and quasi-two-body final state scattering processes. This updated edition also covers one and two-particle inclusive production. It contains references to those published papers whose main purpose is to provide data on high energy two-body and inclusive hadronic scattering cross-sections rather than just properties of the produced particles. It covers the leading high energy physics journals and the period up to June 1977. The entries are grouped by process in the order indicated in the Table of Contents, and an author index is also provided. (author)

  19. Richtlijn 'dermatomyositis, polymyositis en sporadische "inclusion body"-myositis'

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoogendijk, J. E.; Bijlsma, J. W. J.; van Engelen, B. G. M.; Lindeman, E.; van Royen-Kerkhof, A.; de Rie, M. A.; de Visser, M.; Jennekens, F. G. I.

    2005-01-01

    This guideline presents recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of dermatomyositis, polymyositis and sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) according to the best available evidence. Characteristic skin abnormalities can be sufficient for the diagnosis of dermatomyositis. In case of doubt, a

  20. INCLUSION BODY MYOSITIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luh Yeni Laksmini

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Inclusion body myositis (IBM merupakan penyakit inflamasi pada otot yang bersifat progresif dengan penyebab yang tidak diketahui dan tidak menunjukkan respon yang baik terhadap berbagai terapi. Gambaran histopatologi IBM ditandai dengan infiltrat sel-sel limfosit diantara ruangan endomisial, di dalam otot dan di sekitar otot dengan fokus-fokus inklusi di dalam miosit (rimmed vacuole serta beberapa serat otot terlihat atrofi dan nekrosis. Dilaporkan wanita, usia 46 tahun dengan IBM. Keluhan utama pasien berupa kelemahan pada kedua tangan, kaki kanan terasa berat jika diangkat sehingga susah berjalan. Pemeriksaan saraf sensorik ekstremitas dekstra dan sinistra dalam batas normal. Pemeriksaan enzim cretinine kinase meningkat secara dramatik. Pemeriksaan histopatologi dari biospi otot gastrocnemius menunjukkan gambaran yang sesuai untuk IBM dan telah dilakukan penanganan dengan pemberian oral methilprednisolon 3x32 mg dan mecobalmin 1x500ìg intravena, namun tidak menunjukkan respon yang baik terhadap terapi dan akhirnya pasien meninggal. [MEDICINA 2013;44:118-123].

  1. A monoclonal antibody to inclusion body disease of cranes virus enabling specific immunohistochemistry and competitive ELISA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Letchworth, G.J.; Fishel, J.R.; Hansen, W.R.

    1997-01-01

    Inclusion body disease of cranes (IBDC) herpesvirus kills some infected cranes and persists in convalescent animals. To enable further study and rapid identification of carrier animals, we developed a monoclonal antibody (MAb) to IBDC virus and used it in immunohistochemistry and a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We used conventional techniques to make murine MAbs directed against IBDC virus purified from infected duck embryo cells. Hybridomas reacting in an ELISA with IBDC virus but not uninfected duck embryo cells were characterized by radioimmunoprecipitation, in situ immunohistochemistry, and competitive ELISA with neutralizing and nonneutralizing crane sera. MAb 2C11 immunoprecipitated 59-, 61-, and 110-kD proteins from IBDC virus-infected but not uninfected cells and stained glutaraldehyde-fixed IBDC virus plaques but not surrounding uninfected duck embryo cells in vitro. Antibody 2C11 did not react with duck embryo cells infected with falcon herpesvirus, psittacine herpesvirus, infectious laryngotracheitis, pigeon herpesvirus, or duck plague virus. A competitive ELISA using antibody 2C11 identified most sera that were positive in the neutralization test. This antibody will be useful in further characterizing IBDC virus, its pathogenesis, and its natural history.

  2. 40 CFR 180.1149 - Inclusion bodies of the multi-nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Anagrapha falcifera; exemption from...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Inclusion bodies of the multi-nuclear... Inclusion bodies of the multi-nuclear polyhedrosis virus of Anagrapha falcifera; exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. The microbial pest control agent inclusion bodies of the multi-nuclear...

  3. The spectrum and severity of FUS-immunoreactive inclusions in the frontal and temporal lobes of ten cases of neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, Richard A; Gearing, Marla; Bigio, Eileen H; Cruz-Sanchez, Felix F; Duyckaerts, Charles; Mackenzie, Ian R A; Perry, Robert H; Skullerud, Kari; Yokoo, Hedeaki; Cairns, Nigel J

    2011-02-01

    Neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID), a rare form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), is characterized neuropathologically by focal atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, neuronal loss, gliosis, and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) containing epitopes of ubiquitin and neuronal intermediate filament proteins. Recently, the 'fused in sarcoma' (FUS) protein (encoded by the FUS gene) has been shown to be a component of the inclusions of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with FUS mutation, NIFID, basophilic inclusion body disease, and atypical FTLD with ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions (aFTLD-U). To further characterize FUS proteinopathy in NIFID, and to determine whether the pathology revealed by FUS immunohistochemistry (IHC) is more extensive than α-internexin, we have undertaken a quantitative assessment of ten clinically and neuropathologically well-characterized cases using FUS IHC. The densities of NCI were greatest in the dentate gyrus (DG) and in sectors CA1/2 of the hippocampus. Anti-FUS antibodies also labeled glial inclusions (GI), neuronal intranuclear inclusions (NII), and dystrophic neurites (DN). Vacuolation was extensive across upper and lower cortical layers. Significantly greater densities of abnormally enlarged neurons and glial cell nuclei were present in the lower compared with the upper cortical laminae. FUS IHC revealed significantly greater numbers of NCI in all brain regions especially the DG. Our data suggest: (1) significant densities of FUS-immunoreactive NCI in NIFID especially in the DG and CA1/2; (2) infrequent FUS-immunoreactive GI, NII, and DN; (3) widely distributed vacuolation across the cortex, and (4) significantly more NCI revealed by FUS than α-internexin IHC.

  4. Effects of blood-flow-restricted resistance training on muscle function in a 74-year-old male with sporadic inclusion body myositis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Anders Nørkær; Aagaard, P; Nielsen, J L

    2016-01-01

    Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is a systemic disease that is characterized by substantial skeletal muscle weakness and muscle inflammation, leading to impaired physical function. The objective was to investigate the effect of low-load resistance exercise with concurrent partial blood flow...

  5. Blood-flow restricted resistance training in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, A.; Aagaard, P.; Frandsen, U.

    2018-01-01

    Objectives: To investigate the effect of 12 weeks of low-load blood-flow restricted resistance (BFR) training on self-reported and objective physical function, and maximal muscle strength in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM). Method: Twenty-two patients with sIBM were randomized......), which was used to measure self-reported physical function. All patients performed physical function tests (2-Minute Walk Test, Timed Up and Go, and 30-Second Chair Stand), completed the Inclusion Body Myositis Functional Rating Scale (IBMFRS), and were tested for isolated knee extensor muscle strength...

  6. Membrane and inclusion body targeting of lyssavirus matrix proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pollin, Reiko; Granzow, Harald; Köllner, Bernd; Conzelmann, Karl-Klaus; Finke, Stefan

    2013-02-01

    Lyssavirus matrix proteins (M) support virus budding and have accessory functions that may contribute to host cell manipulation and adaptation to specific hosts. Here, we show that rabies virus (RABV) and European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 (EBLV-1) M proteins differ in targeting and accumulation at cellular membranes. In contrast to RABV M, EBLV-1 M expressed from authentic EBLV-1 or chimeric RABV accumulated at the Golgi apparatus. Chimeric M proteins revealed that Golgi association depends on the integrity of the entire EBLV-1 M protein. Since RABV and EBLV-1 M differ in the use of cellular membranes for particle formation, differential membrane targeting and transport of M might determine the site of virus production. Moreover, both RABV and EBLV-1 M were for the first time detected within the nucleus and in Negri body-like inclusions bodies. Whereas nuclear M may imply hitherto unknown functions of lyssavirus M in host cell manipulation, the presence of M in inclusion bodies may correlate with regulatory functions of M in virus RNA synthesis. The data strongly support a model in which targeting of lyssavirus M proteins to distinctintracellular sites is a key determinant of diverse features in lyssavirus replication, host adaptation and pathogenesis. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  7. [The practice guideline 'Dermatomyositis, polymyositis and sporadic inclusion body myositis'

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoogendijk, J.E.; Bijlsma, J.W.J.; Engelen, B.G.M. van; Lindeman, E.J.M.; Royen-Kerkhof, A. van; Rie, M.A. de; Visser, M. de; Jennekens, F.G.I.

    2005-01-01

    This guideline presents recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of dermatomyositis, polymyositis and sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) according to the best available evidence. Characteristic skin abnormalities can be sufficient for the diagnosis of dermatomyositis. In case of doubt, a

  8. Muscle sonography in six patients with hereditary inclusion body myopathy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adler, Ronald S.; Garolfalo, Giovanna; Paget, Stephen; Kagen, Lawrence

    2008-01-01

    To evaluate the morphological changes of muscle with sonography in six patients affected by hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM). We studied a group of six Persian Jews diagnosed with HIBM. All were homozygous for the GNE mutation M712T. Ultrasonographic examinations of the quadriceps femoris and hamstring muscle groups were performed. A follow-up ultrasound examination was performed, after an interval of 3 years, in four of these patients. Muscles were assessed subjectively as to echogenicity, determined by gray-scale assessment, and loss of normal muscle morphology. Power Doppler sonography (PDS) was used to assess vascularity. A sonographic finding of central atrophy and peripheral sparing resulting in a target-like appearance was noted in the hamstring compartment of all six patients. The quadriceps compartment also showed involvement of the rectus femoris of all patients, which, in some cases, was the only muscle involved in the quadriceps. Vascularity was markedly reduced in the affected areas, with blood flow demonstrated in the peripherally spared areas. The severity of atrophy increased with disease duration. In this case series, we describe a new sonographic finding as well as document progression of HIBM disease, which has generally been described as quadriceps sparing. The myopathic target lesion, as well as isolated rectus femoris atrophy, may provide a useful adjunct to disease diagnosis. (orig.)

  9. Microfluidic chips with multi-junctions: an advanced tool in recovering proteins from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamaguchi, Hiroshi; Miyazaki, Masaya

    2015-01-01

    Active recombinant proteins are used for studying the biological functions of genes and for the development of therapeutic drugs. Overexpression of recombinant proteins in bacteria often results in the formation of inclusion bodies, which are protein aggregates with non-native conformations. Protein refolding is an important process for obtaining active recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies. However, the conventional refolding method of dialysis or dilution is time-consuming and recovered active protein yields are often low, and a cumbersome trial-and-error process is required to achieve success. To circumvent these difficulties, we used controllable diffusion through laminar flow in microchannels to regulate the denaturant concentration. This method largely aims at reducing protein aggregation during the refolding procedure. This Commentary introduces the principles of the protein refolding method using microfluidic chips and the advantage of our results as a tool for rapid and efficient recovery of active recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies.

  10. Periodic electroencephalogram discharges in a case of Lafora body disease: An unusual finding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajendra Singh Jain

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Lafora body disease (LBD is a form of progressive myoclonic epilepsy, characterized by seizures, myoclonic jerks, cognitive decline, ataxia, and intracellular polyglucosan inclusion bodies (Lafora bodies in the neurons, heart, skeletal muscle, liver, and sweat gland duct cells. Electroencephalogram (EEG findings in LBD may include multiple spikes and wave discharges, photosensitivity, multifocal epileptiform discharges, and progressive slowing in background activity. Periodicity in epileptiform discharges has not been frequently depicted in LBD. We herein report an unusual case of LBD who showed generalized periodic epileptiform discharges in EEG.

  11. Peripheral Avascular Retina in a Term Male Neonate With Microvillus Inclusion Disease and Pancreatic Insufficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paulus, Yannis M; Alcorn, Deborah M; Gaynon, Michael; Moshfeghi, Darius M

    2015-05-01

    The authors present the first case of peripheral avascular retina in a term male neonate with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, atypical microvillus inclusion disease, flat tympanograms, and recurrent urinary tract infections. Clinical examination showed avascular peripheral retina to posterior zone II temporally, with a flat stage 1-like demarcation line, and no plus disease. Genetic testing results were normal. The patient developed peripheral neovascularization and underwent panretinal photocoagulation. This case likely represents mild Norrie disease, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, or incontinentia pigmenti due to a Wnt signaling abnormality. While these conditions are usually more severe, a variable spectrum of Wnt abnormalities exists throughout the body. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

  12. Analysis of magnetite crystals and inclusion bodies inside magnetotactic bacteria from different environmental locations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oestreicher, Z.; Lower, B.; Lower, S.; Bazylinski, D. A.

    2011-12-01

    Biomineralization occurs throughout the living world; a few common examples include iron oxide in chiton teeth, calcium carbonate in mollusk shells, calcium phosphate in animal bones and teeth, silica in diatom shells, and magnetite crystals inside the cells of magnetotactic bacteria. Biologically controlled mineralization is characterized by biominerals that have species-specific properties such as: preferential crystallographic orientation, consistent particle size, highly ordered spatial locations, and well-defined composition and structure. It is well known that magnetotactic bacteria synthesize crystals of magnetite inside of their cells, but how they mineralize the magnetite is poorly understood. Magnetosomes have a species-specific morphology that is due to specific proteins involved in the mineralization process. In addition to magnetite crystals, magnetotactic bacteria also produce inclusion bodies or granules that contain different elements, such as phosphorus, calcium, and sulfur. In this study we used the transmission electron microscope to analyze the structure of magnetite crystals and inclusion bodies from different species of magnetotactic bacteria in order to determine the composition of the inclusion bodies and to ascertain whether or not the magnetite crystals contain elements other than iron and oxygen. Using energy dispersive spectroscopy we found that different bacteria from different environments possess inclusion bodies that contain different elements such as phosphorus, calcium, barium, magnesium, and sulfur. These differences may reflect the conditions of the environment in which the bacteria inhabit.

  13. Physical function and muscle strength in sporadic inclusion body myositis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Anders N; Aagaard, Per; Nielsen, Jakob L

    2017-01-01

    INTRODUCTION: In this study, self-reported physical function, functional capacity, and isolated muscle function were investigated in sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) patients. METHODS: The 36-item Short Form (SF-36) Health Survey and 2-min walk test (2MWT), timed up & go test (TUG), and 30-s...

  14. A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nabiei, Farhang; Badro, James; Dennenwaldt, Teresa; Oveisi, Emad; Cantoni, Marco; Hébert, Cécile; El Goresy, Ahmed; Barrat, Jean-Alix; Gillet, Philippe

    2018-04-17

    Planetary formation models show that terrestrial planets are formed by the accretion of tens of Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos through energetic giant impacts. However, relics of these large proto-planets are yet to be found. Ureilites are one of the main families of achondritic meteorites and their parent body is believed to have been catastrophically disrupted by an impact during the first 10 million years of the solar system. Here we studied a section of the Almahata Sitta ureilite using transmission electron microscopy, where large diamonds were formed at high pressure inside the parent body. We discovered chromite, phosphate, and (Fe,Ni)-sulfide inclusions embedded in diamond. The composition and morphology of the inclusions can only be explained if the formation pressure was higher than 20 GPa. Such pressures suggest that the ureilite parent body was a Mercury- to Mars-sized planetary embryo.

  15. Amyloid-linked cellular toxicity triggered by bacterial inclusion bodies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez-Montalban, Nuria; Villaverde, Antonio; Aris, Anna

    2007-01-01

    The aggregation of proteins in the form of amyloid fibrils and plaques is the characteristic feature of some pathological conditions ranging from neurodegenerative disorders to systemic amyloidoses. The mechanisms by which the aggregation processes result in cell damage are under intense investigation but recent data indicate that prefibrillar aggregates are the most proximate mediators of toxicity rather than mature fibrils. Since it has been shown that prefibrillar forms of the nondisease-related misfolded proteins are highly toxic to cultured mammalian cells we have studied the cytoxicity associated to bacterial inclusion bodies that have been recently described as protein deposits presenting amyloid-like structures. We have proved that bacterial inclusion bodies composed by a misfolding-prone β-galactosidase fusion protein are clearly toxic for mammalian cells but the β-galactosidase wild type enzyme forming more structured thermal aggregates does not impair cell viability, despite it also binds and enter into the cells. These results are in the line that the most cytotoxic aggregates are early prefibrilar assemblies but discard the hypothesis that the membrane destabilization is Key event to subsequent disruption of cellular processes, such as ion balance, oxidative state and the eventually cell death

  16. Positive in vitro wound healing effects of functional inclusion bodies of a lipoxygenase from the Mexican axolotl.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stamm, Anne; Strauß, Sarah; Vogt, Peter; Scheper, Thomas; Pepelanova, Iliyana

    2018-04-07

    AmbLOXe is a lipoxygenase, which is up-regulated during limb-redevelopment in the Mexican axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, an animal with remarkable regeneration capacity. Previous studies have shown that mammalian cells transformed with the gene of this epidermal lipoxygenase display faster migration and wound closure rate during in vitro wound healing experiments. In this study, the gene of AmbLOXe was codon-optimized for expression in Escherichia coli and was produced in the insoluble fraction as protein aggregates. These inclusion bodies or nanopills were shown to be reservoirs containing functional protein during in vitro wound healing assays. For this purpose, functional inclusion bodies were used to coat cell culture surfaces prior cell seeding or were added directly to the medium after cells reached confluence. In both scenarios, AmbLOXe inclusion bodies led to faster migration rate and wound closure, in comparison to controls containing either no AmbLOXe or GFP inclusion bodies. Our results demonstrate that AmbLOXe inclusion bodies are functional and may serve as stable reservoirs of this enzyme. Nevertheless, further studies with soluble enzyme are also necessary in order to start elucidating the exact molecular substrates of AmbLOXe and the biochemical pathways involved in the wound healing effect.

  17. Evaluation and construction of diagnostic criteria for inclusion body myositis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mammen, Andrew L.; Amato, Anthony A.; Weiss, Michael D.; Needham, Merrilee

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To use patient data to evaluate and construct diagnostic criteria for inclusion body myositis (IBM), a progressive disease of skeletal muscle. Methods: The literature was reviewed to identify all previously proposed IBM diagnostic criteria. These criteria were applied through medical records review to 200 patients diagnosed as having IBM and 171 patients diagnosed as having a muscle disease other than IBM by neuromuscular specialists at 2 institutions, and to a validating set of 66 additional patients with IBM from 2 other institutions. Machine learning techniques were used for unbiased construction of diagnostic criteria. Results: Twenty-four previously proposed IBM diagnostic categories were identified. Twelve categories all performed with high (≥97%) specificity but varied substantially in their sensitivities (11%–84%). The best performing category was European Neuromuscular Centre 2013 probable (sensitivity of 84%). Specialized pathologic features and newly introduced strength criteria (comparative knee extension/hip flexion strength) performed poorly. Unbiased data-directed analysis of 20 features in 371 patients resulted in construction of higher-performing data-derived diagnostic criteria (90% sensitivity and 96% specificity). Conclusions: Published expert consensus–derived IBM diagnostic categories have uniformly high specificity but wide-ranging sensitivities. High-performing IBM diagnostic category criteria can be developed directly from principled unbiased analysis of patient data. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class II evidence that published expert consensus–derived IBM diagnostic categories accurately distinguish IBM from other muscle disease with high specificity but wide-ranging sensitivities. PMID:24975859

  18. Epidemiology of inclusion body myositis in the Netherlands : A nationwide study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Badrising, UA; Maat-Schieman, M; van Duinen, SG; Breedveld, F; van Doorn, P; van Engelen, B; van den Hoogen, F; Hoogendijk, J; Howeler, C; de Jager, A; Jennekens, F; Koehler, P; van der Leeuw, H; de Visser, M; Verschuuren, JJ; Wintzen, AR

    2000-01-01

    Epidemiologic data on inclusion body myositis (IBM) are scarce, and possibly biased, because they are derived from larger neuromuscular centers. The present nationwide collaborative cross-sectional study, which culminated on July 1, 1999, resulted in identification of 76 patients with IBM and the

  19. Inclusões intracitoplasmáticas hialinas na medular da adrenal de bovinos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L.P Mesquita

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in adrenal medullary chromaffin cells have been described in various species including humans. These inclusions are believed to be related to certain infectious, toxic and neurodegenerative diseases. No reports concerning such adrenal inclusions have been described in bovines. Adrenal glands from twenty bovines were evaluated in a retrospective study. Seven of these exhibited inclusions - three cases of rabies, two cases of chronic suppurative bronchopneumonia, one case of chronic suppurative peritonitis, and one case of gangrenous mastitis. The inclusions were present in higher numbers especially in cases of rabies and also in one case of chronic suppurative bronchopneumonia. The inclusions were intracytoplasmic, eosinophilic, rounded, single or multiple, of various sizes, strongly stained by PAS and were present in higher numbers in the external layer of the adrenal medulla. The inclusions were negative when subjected to immunohistochemistry for detection of viral antigens in the cases of rabies. Although inclusion bodies were present in adrenal glands devoid of other histological alterations, they were more abundant in cases in which the adrenal gland had other alterations. The correlation between certain diseases and the development of inclusion bodies is not known, which highlights the importance of further studies on these inclusions in adrenal glands of bovines.

  20. Enhanced expression and purification of camelid single domain VHH antibodies from classical inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggi, Maristella; Scotti, Claudia

    2017-08-01

    Single domain antibodies (sdAbs) are small antigen-binding domains derived from naturally occurring, heavy chain-only immunoglobulins isolated from camelid and sharks. They maintain the same binding capability of full-length IgGs but with improved thermal stability and permeability, which justifies their scientific, medical and industrial interest. Several described recombinant forms of sdAbs have been produced in different hosts and with different strategies. Here we present an optimized method for a time-saving, high yield production and extraction of a poly-histidine-tagged sdAb from Escherichia coli classical inclusion bodies. Protein expression and extraction were attempted using 4 different methods (e.g. autoinducing or IPTG-induced soluble expression, non-classical and classical inclusion bodies). The best method resulted to be expression in classical inclusion bodies and urea-mediated protein extraction which yielded 60-70 mg/l bacterial culture. The method we here describe can be of general interest for an enhanced and efficient heterologous expression of sdAbs for research and industrial purposes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Employment of colorimetric enzyme assay for monitoring expression and solubility of GST fusion proteins targeted to inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mačinković, Igor S; Abughren, Mohamed; Mrkic, Ivan; Grozdanović, Milica M; Prodanović, Radivoje; Gavrović-Jankulović, Marija

    2013-12-01

    High levels of recombinant protein expression can lead to the formation of insoluble inclusion bodies. These complex aggregates are commonly solubilized in strong denaturants, such as 6-8M urea, although, if possible, solubilization under milder conditions could facilitate subsequent refolding and purification of bioactive proteins. Commercially available GST-tag assays are designed for quantitative measurement of GST activity under native conditions. GST fusion proteins accumulated in inclusion bodies are considered to be undetectable by such assays. In this work, solubilization of recombinantly produced proteins was performed in 4M urea. The activity of rGST was assayed in 2M urea and it was shown that rGST preserves 85% of its activity under such denaturing conditions. A colorimetric GST activity assay with 1-chloro-2, 4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) was examined for use in rapid detection of expression targeted to inclusion bodies and for the identification of inclusion body proteins which can be solubilized in low concentrations of chaotropic agents. Applicability of the assay was evaluated by tracking protein expression of two GST-fused allergens of biopharmaceutical value in E. coli, GST-Der p 2 and GST-Mus a 5, both targeted to inclusion bodies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Refolding in high hydrostatic pressure of recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies in Escherichia Coli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balduino, Keli Nunes

    2009-01-01

    The expression of proteins as inclusion bodies in bacteria is a widely used alternative for production of recombinant protein. However, the aggregation is a problem often encountered during refolding of these proteins. High hydrostatic pressure are able to solubilise the inclusion bodies in the presence of low concentrations of denaturant reagents, encouraging refolding protein with high efficiency and reduce costs. This work aims to refolding of recombinant proteins expressed in Escherichia coli from inclusion bodies using high hydrostatic pressure. Three toxins, all featuring five or more disulfide bonds were studied: NXH8, Natterin 2 and Bothropstoxin 1. Suspensions of inclusion bodies of the three proteins were pressurized to 2000 bars for 16 hours. The buffers were optimized for refolding of the three proteins. The buffer used in the refolding of NXH8 was 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 9.0 with proportion of 1GSH: 4GSSG at a concentration of 6 mM and 2 M GdnHCl. Inclusion bodies were used in O.D. (A600nm) of 0.5. After refolding process, dialysis was performed at pH 7.0. The final yield of obtaining soluble NXH8 was 40% (28,6 mg of soluble NXH8/L of culture medium). The refolding of Bothropstoxin 1 was obtained in refolding buffer of Tris HCl 50 mM, pH 7,5 with proportion of 2 GSH: GSSG 3 and concentration of 3 mM and 1 M GdnHCl. Use with a suspension of O.D. (A600nm) of 0.5. The final yield of recovery of Bothropstoxin 1 refolded was 32% (9,2 mg of refolded Bothropstoxin 1/L of culture medium). The refolding of Natterin 2 was performed in the refolding buffer: 20 mM Tris HCl pH 9.0 at a ratio of 2 GSH: 3GSSG and concentration of 10 mM and 1 M GdnHCl and inclusion bodies O.D. (A600nm) of 6.0. The yield of Natterin 2 refolded was 20% (3,7 mg/L of culture medium). Physico-chemical and biological analysis were performed by SDS-PAGE, western blot, scanning electron microscopy, biological tests in vivo and in vitro and structural. The analysis conducted in NXH8 did not show

  3. Sodium phenylbutyrate reverses lysosomal dysfunction and decreases amyloid-β42 in an in vitro-model of inclusion-body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nogalska, Anna; D'Agostino, Carla; Engel, W King; Askanas, Valerie

    2014-05-01

    Sporadic inclusion-body myositis (s-IBM) is a severe, progressive muscle disease for which there is no enduring treatment. Pathologically characteristic are vacuolated muscle fibers having: accumulations of multi-protein aggregates, including amyloid-β(Aβ) 42 and its toxic oligomers; increased γ-secretase activity; and impaired autophagy. Cultured human muscle fibers with experimentally-impaired autophagy recapitulate some of the s-IBM muscle abnormalities, including vacuolization and decreased activity of lysosomal enzymes, accompanied by increased Aβ42, Aβ42 oligomers, and increased γ-secretase activity. Sodium phenylbutyrate (NaPB) is an orally bioavailable small molecule approved by the FDA for treatment of urea-cycle disorders. Here we describe that NaPB treatment reverses lysosomal dysfunction in an in vitro model of inclusion-body myositis, involving cultured human muscle fibers. NaPB treatment improved lysosomal activity, decreased Aβ42 and its oligomers, decreased γ-secretase activity, and virtually prevented muscle-fiber vacuolization. Accordingly, NaPB might be considered a potential treatment of s-IBM patients. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Online analysis of protein inclusion bodies produced in E. coli by monitoring alterations in scattered and reflected light.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ude, Christian; Ben-Dov, Nadav; Jochums, André; Li, Zhaopeng; Segal, Ester; Scheper, Thomas; Beutel, Sascha

    2016-05-01

    The online monitoring of recombinant protein aggregate inclusion bodies during microbial cultivation is an immense challenge. Measurement of scattered and reflected light offers a versatile and non-invasive measurement technique. Therefore, we investigated two methods to detect the formation of inclusion bodies and monitor their production: (1) online 180° scattered light measurement (λ = 625 nm) using a sensor platform during cultivation in shake flask and (2) online measurement of the light reflective interference using a porous Si-based optical biosensor (SiPA). It could be shown that 180° scattered light measurement allows monitoring of alterations in the optical properties of Escherichia coli BL21 cells, associated with the formation of inclusion bodies during cultivation. A reproducible linear correlation between the inclusion body concentration of the non-fluorescent protein human leukemia inhibitory factor (hLIF) carrying a thioredoxin tag and the shift ("Δamp") in scattered light signal intensity was observed. This was also observed for the glutathione-S-transferase-tagged green fluorescent protein (GFP-GST). Continuous online monitoring of reflective interference spectra reveals a significant increase in the bacterium refractive index during hLIF production in comparison to a non-induced reference that coincide with the formation of inclusion bodies. These online monitoring techniques could be applied for fast and cost-effective screening of different protein expression systems.

  5. Preparative Protein Production from Inclusion Bodies and Crystallization: A Seven-Week Biochemistry Sequence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Megan J.; Snyder, W. Kalani; Westerman, Shelley; McFarland, Benjamin J.

    2011-01-01

    We describe how to produce and purify proteins from E. coli inclusion bodies by adapting versatile, preparative-scale techniques to the undergraduate laboratory schedule. This seven-week sequence of experiments fits into an annual cycle of research activity in biochemistry courses. Recombinant proteins are expressed as inclusion bodies, which are collected, washed, then solubilized in urea. Stepwise dialysis to dilute urea over the course of a week produces refolded protein. Column chromatography is used to purify protein into fractions, which are then analyzed with gel electrophoresis and concentration assays. Students culminate the project by designing crystallization trials in sitting-drop trays. Student evaluation of the experience has been positive, listing 5–12 new techniques learned, which are transferrable to graduate research in academia and industry. PMID:21691428

  6. Inclusion bodies induced by bean rugose mosaic virus seen under light microscopy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Rivera

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available Two types of inclusion bodies were consistently observed under light microscopy in bean (Phaseolus vulgaris leaf tissue infected with bean rugose mosaic virus (BRMV, a species of the genus Comovirus, family Comoviridae. One type consisted of vacuolated inclusions found mainly in the cytoplasm of epidermal cells. The other type consisted of abundant crystalloid inclusions of different sizes and shapes found consistently in glandular hairs, guard cells, phloem tissue, xylem elements and occasionally in epidermal and mesophyll tissues. The two types of inclusion bodies stained with Azure A and Luxol Brilliant Green Bl-Calcomine Orange 2RS (O-G, and were similar to those seen to be caused by other species of comoviruses.Se observaron dos tipos de inclusiones virales, mediante microscopia de luz, en hojas de plantas de frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris previamente infectadas con el virus del mosaico rugoso del frijol ("bean rugose mosaic comovirus", BRMV, especie del género Comovirus, familia Comoviridae. Se hallaron inclusiones vesiculadas, principalmente en el citoplasma de células de la epidermis, y abundantes inclusiones cristalinas de diferentes formas y tamaños siempre en células guarda, tricomas glandulares, floema, elementos del xilema y ocasionalmente en células epidérmicas y del mesófilo. Ambos tipos de inclusiones tiñeron con Azure A y con la tinción, verde naranja (Luxol Brilliant Green BL-Calcomine Orange 2 RS conocida como OG, y son similares a las inclusiones inducidas por otras especies del género Comovirus.

  7. Dynamic phosphorylation of Ebola virus VP30 in NP-induced inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lier, Clemens; Becker, Stephan; Biedenkopf, Nadine

    2017-12-01

    Zaire Ebolavirus (EBOV) causes a severe feverish disease with high case fatality rates. Transcription of EBOV is dependent on the activity of the nucleocapsid protein VP30 which represents an essential viral transcription factor. Activity of VP30 is regulated via phosphorylation at six N-terminal serine residues. Recent data demonstrated that dynamic phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of serine residue 29 is essential for transcriptional support activity of VP30. To analyze the spatio/temporal dynamics of VP30 phosphorylation, we generated a peptide antibody recognizing specifically VP30 phosphorylated at serine 29. Using this antibody we could demonstrate that (i) the majority of VP30 molecules in EBOV-infected cells is dephosphorylated at the crucial position serine 29, (ii) both, VP30 phosphorylation and dephosphorylation take place in viral inclusion bodies that are induced by the nucleoprotein NP and (iii) NP influences the phosphorylation state of VP30. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Role of the disaggregase ClpB in processing of proteins aggregated as inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zblewska, Kamila; Krajewska, Joanna; Zolkiewski, Michal; Kędzierska-Mieszkowska, Sabina

    2014-08-01

    Overproduction of heterologous proteins in bacterial systems often results in the formation of insoluble inclusion bodies (IBs), which is a major impediment in biochemical research and biotechnology. In principle, the activity of molecular chaperones could be employed to gain control over the IB formation and to improve the recombinant protein yields, but the potential of each of the major bacterial chaperones (DnaK/J, GroEL/ES, and ClpB) to process IBs has not been fully established yet. We investigated the formation of inclusion bodies (IBs) of two aggregation-prone proteins, VP1LAC and VP1GFP, overproduced in Escherichiacoli in the presence and absence of the chaperone ClpB. We found that both ClpB isoforms, ClpB95 and ClpB80 accumulated in E. coli cells during the production of IBs. The amount of IB proteins increased in the absence of ClpB. ClpB supported the resolubilization and reactivation of the aggregated VP1LAC and VP1GFP in E. coli cells. The IB disaggregation was optimal in the presence of both ClpB95 and ClpB80. Our results indicate an essential role of ClpB in controlling protein aggregation and inclusion body formation in bacteria. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Spatial patterns of FUS-immunoreactive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) in neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, Richard A; Gearing, Marla; Bigio, Eileen H; Cruz-Sanchez, Felix F; Duyckaerts, Charles; Mackenzie, Ian R A; Perry, Robert H; Skullerud, Kari; Yokoo, Hideaki; Cairns, Nigel J

    2011-11-01

    Neuronal intermediate filament inclusion disease (NIFID), a rare form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), is characterized neuropathologically by focal atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, neuronal loss, gliosis, and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI) containing epitopes of ubiquitin and neuronal intermediate filament (IF) proteins. Recently, the 'fused in sarcoma' (FUS) protein (encoded by the FUS gene) has been shown to be a component of the inclusions of NIFID. To further characterize FUS proteinopathy in NIFID, we studied the spatial patterns of the FUS-immunoreactive NCI in frontal and temporal cortex of 10 cases. In the cerebral cortex, sectors CA1/2 of the hippocampus, and the dentate gyrus (DG), the FUS-immunoreactive NCI were frequently clustered and the clusters were regularly distributed parallel to the tissue boundary. In a proportion of cortical gyri, cluster size of the NCI approximated to those of the columns of cells was associated with the cortico-cortical projections. There were no significant differences in the frequency of different types of spatial patterns with disease duration or disease stage. Clusters of NCI in the upper and lower cortex were significantly larger using FUS compared with phosphorylated, neurofilament heavy polypeptide (NEFH) or α-internexin (INA) immunohistochemistry (IHC). We concluded: (1) FUS-immunoreactive NCI exhibit similar spatial patterns to analogous inclusions in the tauopathies and synucleinopathies, (2) clusters of FUS-immunoreactive NCI are larger than those revealed by NEFH or ΙΝΑ, and (3) the spatial patterns of the FUS-immunoreactive NCI suggest the degeneration of the cortico-cortical projections in NIFID.

  10. Seborrheic inclusion cyst of the skin positive for cytoplasmic inclusion bodies and HPV antigen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terada, Tadashi

    2012-01-01

    Seborrheic inclusion cyst (SIC) is a very rare variant of epidermal cyst of the skin. SIC shows seborrheic keratosis (SK)-like lesion in epidermal cyst. SIC is extremely rare; only 6 case reports have been published in the English literature. However, no immunohistochemical study of SIC has been reported. A 41-year-old Japanese man noticed a subcutaneous tumor in the neck. Physical examination showed slightly mobile tumor in the subcutaneous tissue, and total excision was performed. Grossly, the tumor (1 x 1 x 0.8 cm) was cyst containing atheromatous keratin. Microscopically, the lesion is a cyst containing keratins. About one half of the cyst showed features of epidermal cyst consisting of mature squamous epithelium with granular layers. The other one half showed SK-like epidermal proliferation. The SK-like area showed basaloid cell proliferation with pseudohorn cysts. No significant atypia was noted. Many eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies were noted in the SK-like area. Immunohistochemically, the SK-like area was positive for pancytokeratin AE1/3, pancytokeratin CAM5.2, p63, and Ki-67 (labeling=8%) and HPV, but negative for p53. The pathological diagnosis was SIC.

  11. L-arginine mediated renaturation enhances yield of human, α6 Type IV collagen non-collagenous domain from bacterial inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunda, Venugopal; Boosani, Chandra Shekhar; Verma, Raj Kumar; Guda, Chittibabu; Sudhakar, Yakkanti Akul

    2012-10-01

    The anti-angiogenic, carboxy terminal non-collagenous domain (NC1) derived from human Collagen type IV alpha 6 chain, [α6(IV)NC1] or hexastatin, was earlier obtained using different recombinant methods of expression in bacterial systems. However, the effect of L-arginine mediated renaturation in enhancing the relative yields of this protein from bacterial inclusion bodies has not been evaluated. In the present study, direct stirring and on-column renaturation methods using L-arginine and different size exclusion chromatography matrices were applied for enhancing the solubility in purifying the recombinant α6(IV)NC1 from bacterial inclusion bodies. This methodology enabled purification of higher quantities of soluble protein from inclusion bodies, which inhibited endothelial cell proliferation, migration and tube formation. Thus, the scope for L-arginine mediated renaturation in obtaining higher yields of soluble, biologically active NC1 domain from bacterial inclusion bodies was evaluated.

  12. diseases free body

    OpenAIRE

    thararose

    2018-01-01

    Diseases are very common now a days . It is our food habits itself that causes this diseases. Diseases can cause many health problems. goiter causes and symptoms It is very important to follow healthy food habits and to maintain good health. A healthy body is always a treasure to every person.

  13. Yeast prions form infectious amyloid inclusion bodies in bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Espargaró Alba

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Prions were first identified as infectious proteins associated with fatal brain diseases in mammals. However, fungal prions behave as epigenetic regulators that can alter a range of cellular processes. These proteins propagate as self-perpetuating amyloid aggregates being an example of structural inheritance. The best-characterized examples are the Sup35 and Ure2 yeast proteins, corresponding to [PSI+] and [URE3] phenotypes, respectively. Results Here we show that both the prion domain of Sup35 (Sup35-NM and the Ure2 protein (Ure2p form inclusion bodies (IBs displaying amyloid-like properties when expressed in bacteria. These intracellular aggregates template the conformational change and promote the aggregation of homologous, but not heterologous, soluble prionogenic molecules. Moreover, in the case of Sup35-NM, purified IBs are able to induce different [PSI+] phenotypes in yeast, indicating that at least a fraction of the protein embedded in these deposits adopts an infectious prion fold. Conclusions An important feature of prion inheritance is the existence of strains, which are phenotypic variants encoded by different conformations of the same polypeptide. We show here that the proportion of infected yeast cells displaying strong and weak [PSI+] phenotypes depends on the conditions under which the prionogenic aggregates are formed in E. coli, suggesting that bacterial systems might become useful tools to generate prion strain diversity.

  14. Dean vortex membrane microfiltration and diafiltration of rBDNF E. coli inclusion bodies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schutyser, M.A.I.; Rupp, R.; Wideman, J.; Belfort, G.

    2002-01-01

    Cross-flow microfiltration (CMF) and diafiltration were used to concentrate and purify recombinant Brain-Derived Neutrophic Factor (rBDNF) inclusion bodies from an E. coli cell suspension and a homogenized E. coli cell suspension (homogenate/lysate). Although these processes have been tested

  15. Chaperone-mediated autophagy components are upregulated in sporadic inclusion-body myositis muscle fibres.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cacciottolo, M; Nogalska, A; D'Agostino, C; Engel, W K; Askanas, V

    2013-12-01

    Sporadic inclusion-body myositis (s-IBM) is an age-associated degenerative muscle disease. Characteristic features are muscle-fibre vacuolization and intramuscle-fibre accumulations of multiprotein aggregates, which may result from the demonstrated impairments of the 26S proteasome and autophagy. Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a selective form of lysosomal degradation targeting proteins carrying the KFERQ motif. Lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A (LAMP2A) and the heat-shock cognate protein 70 (Hsc70) constitute specific CMA components. Neither CMA components nor CMA activity has been studied in normal or disease human muscle, to our knowledge. We studied CMA components by immunocytochemistry, immunoblots, real-time PCR and immunoprecipitation in: (a) 16 s-IBM, nine aged-matched normal and nine disease control muscle biopsies; and (b) cultured human muscle fibres (CHMFs) with experimentally inhibited activities of either the 26S proteasome or autophagy. Compared with age-matched controls, in s-IBM muscle, LAMP2A and Hsc70 were on a given transverse section accumulated as aggregates in approximately 5% of muscle fibres, where they (a) colocalized with each other and α-synuclein (α-syn), a CMA-targeted protein; and (b) were bound to each other and to α-syn by immunoprecipitation. By immunoblots, LAMP2A was increased sevenfold P pathogenic aspect in s-IBM. © 2013 British Neuropathological Society.

  16. Spectacular manifestations of systemic diseases of the snake

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Da Silva, Mari-Ann Otkjær; Bertelsen, Mads Frost; Heegaard, Steffen

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports histopathological findings in the spectacles of four snakes diagnosed with systemic gout, inclusion body disease, disseminated lymphoma and myeloproliferative disease, respectively. Gout was characterised by urate ghost tophi in the stroma and outer epithelium of the spectacle...... to four different systemic diseases with world-wide distribution........ Inclusion body disease affected all layers of the spectacle with intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusions. Two cases of neoplasia, lymphoma and myeloproliferative disease, affected the ocular adnexa and the spectacular transition zone. These cases provide novel insight into how the spectacle may respond...

  17. Inclusões intracelulares associadas à "espiga branca" do trigo Intracellular inclusions associated with white spike disease of wheat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. W. Kitajima

    1971-05-01

    Full Text Available Fragmentos da epiderme inferior de fôlhas de trigo com sintomas típicos da anomalia conhecida como "espiga branca", examinados ao microscópio convencional, mostraram a constante ocorrência de inclusões intracelulares, de dimensões avantajadas e de aspecto fibrilar e enovelado. Freqüentemente, células adjacentes aquelas que continham inclusões apresentavam formações aciculares, em seu interior. Seções ultrafinas dessas folhas, examinadas ao microscópio electrô-nico, revelaram que tais inclusões eram de localização citoplasmática e formadas por uma massa de partículas filamentosas de 7-10 m¼ em diâmetro e de comprimento indeterminado, idênticas àquelas encontradas em preparações "leaf dip". Várias alterações celulares, como hipertrofia do nucléolo, degeneração dos cloroplastos e vesicularização do retículo endoplasmático, puderam também ser notadas. Ocasionalmente, formações cristalinas foram notadas na periferia e mesmo no interior do núcleo. A semelhança das inclusões citoplasmáticas e das partículas que as compõem, com aquelas descritas, associadas à infecção do vírus da "hoja blanca" do arroz, e também o fato de o trigo desenvolver sintomas do tipo espiga branca quando inoculado experimentalmente com o vírus da "hoja blanca", parecem reforçar a sugestão de que a espiga branca do trigo teria etiologia virosa e que o agente causal seria do grupo do vírus da "hoja blanca" do arroz. A constante associação das inclusões celulares com a condição de espiga branca, em trigo, constitui mais um elemento para sua rápida diagnose.Light microscopic examination of epidermal strips from leaves of wheat (Triticum sativumL. showing typical symptoms of the white spike (WS disease, demonstrated the constant occurrence of huge, fibrous and whorled intracellular inclusions. Occasionally cells adjacent to those having inclusions contained needle-like formations. The whorled inclusions appeared in ultrathin

  18. Purification of inclusion bodies using PEG precipitation under denaturing conditions to produce recombinant therapeutic proteins from Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Huanhuan; Li, Ninghuan; Xie, Yueqing; Jiang, Hua; Yang, Xiaoyi; Cagliero, Cedric; Shi, Siwei; Zhu, Chencen; Luo, Han; Chen, Junsheng; Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Menglin; Feng, Lei; Lu, Huili; Zhu, Jianwei

    2017-07-01

    It has been documented that the purification of inclusion bodies from Escherichia coli by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) may benefit subsequent refolding and recovery of recombinant proteins. However, loading volume and the high cost of the column limits its application in large-scale manufacturing of biopharmaceutical proteins. We report a novel process using polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation under denaturing conditions to replace SEC for rapid purification of inclusion bodies containing recombinant therapeutic proteins. Using recombinant human interleukin 15 (rhIL-15) as an example, inclusion bodies of rhIL-15 were solubilized in 7 M guanidine hydrochloride, and rhIL-15 was precipitated by the addition of PEG 6000. A final concentration of 5% (w/v) PEG 6000 was found to be optimal to precipitate target proteins and enhance recovery and purity. Compared to the previously reported S-200 size exclusion purification method, PEG precipitation was easier to scale up and achieved the same protein yields and quality of the product. PEG precipitation also reduced manufacturing time by about 50 and 95% of material costs. After refolding and further purification, the rhIL-15 product was highly pure and demonstrated a comparable bioactivity with a rhIL-15 reference standard. Our studies demonstrated that PEG precipitation of inclusion bodies under denaturing conditions holds significant potential as a manufacturing process for biopharmaceuticals from E. coli protein expression systems.

  19. Alternative preparation of inclusion bodies excludes interfering non-protein contaminants and improves the yield of recombinant proinsulin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackin, Robert B

    2014-01-01

    The goal of simple, high-yield expression and purification of recombinant human proinsulin has proven to be a considerable challenge. First, proinsulin forms inclusion bodies during bacterial expression. While this phenomenon can be exploited as a capture step, conventionally prepared inclusion bodies contain significant amounts of non-protein contaminants that interfere with subsequent chromatographic purification. Second, the proinsulin molecules within the inclusion bodies are incorrectly folded, and likely cross-linked to one another, making it difficult to quantify the amount of expressed proinsulin. Third, proinsulin is an intermediate between the initial product of ribosomal translation (preproinsulin) and the final product secreted by pancreatic beta cells (insulin). Therefore, to be efficiently produced in bacteria, it must be produced as an N-terminally extended fusion protein, which has to be converted to authentic proinsulin during the purification scheme. To address all three of these problems, while simultaneously streamlining the procedure and increasing the yield of recombinant proinsulin, we have made three substantive modifications to our previous method for producing proinsulin:.•Conditions for the preparation of inclusion bodies have been altered so contaminants that interfere with semi-preparative reversed-phase chromatography are excluded while the proinsulin fusion protein is retained at high yield.•Aliquots are taken following important steps in the procedure and the quantity of proinsulin-related polypeptide in the sample is compared to the amount present prior to that step.•Final purification is performed using a silica-based reversed-phase matrix in place of a polystyrene-divinylbenzene-based matrix.

  20. Chemical Assistance in Refolding of Bacterial Inclusion Bodies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mona Alibolandi

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Escherichia coli is one of the most widely used hosts for the production of recombinant proteins but insoluble expression of heterologous proteins is a major bottleneck in production of recombinant proteins in E. coli. In vitro refolding of inclusion body into proteins with native conformations is a solution for this problem but there is a need for optimization of condition for each protein specifically. Several approaches have been described for in vitro refolding; most of them involve the use of additives for assisting correct folding. Cosolutes play a major role in refolding process and can be classified according to their function as aggregation suppressors and folding enhancers. This paper presents a review of additives that are used in refolding process of insoluble recombinant proteins in small scale and industrial processes.

  1. Refolding of proteins from inclusion bodies: rational design and recipes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basu, Anindya; Li, Xiang; Leong, Susanna Su Jan

    2011-10-01

    The need to develop protein biomanufacturing platforms that can deliver proteins quickly and cost-effectively is ever more pressing. The rapid rate at which genomes can now be sequenced demands efficient protein production platforms for gene function identification. There is a continued need for the biotech industry to deliver new and more effective protein-based drugs to address new diseases. Bacterial production platforms have the advantage of high expression yields, but insoluble expression of many proteins necessitates the development of diverse and optimised refolding-based processes. Strategies employed to eliminate insoluble expression are reviewed, where it is concluded that inclusion bodies are difficult to eliminate for various reasons. Rational design of refolding systems and recipes are therefore needed to expedite production of recombinant proteins. This review article discusses efforts towards rational design of refolding systems and recipes, which can be guided by the development of refolding screening platforms that yield both qualitative and quantitative information on the progression of a given refolding process. The new opportunities presented by light scattering technologies for developing rational protein refolding buffer systems which in turn can be used to develop new process designs armed with better monitoring and controlling functionalities are discussed. The coupling of dynamic and static light scattering methodologies for incorporation into future bioprocess designs to ensure delivery of high-quality refolded proteins at faster rates is also discussed.

  2. Mind-Body Therapies for African-American Women at Risk for Cardiometabolic Disease: A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Candace C. Johnson

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. A major determinant in cardiometabolic health is metabolic syndrome (MetS, a cluster of symptoms that portend the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD. As mind-body therapies are thought to help in lowering physiological and environmental CVD risk factors including blood pressure and psychological stress, they may also be beneficial for the primary prevention of CVD. Objectives. To synthesize and summarize existing knowledge on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies on MetS outcomes in African-American (AA women, a US subpopulation at high risk for CVD. Search Methods. A systematic search of eight databases was conducted in order to identify published papers addressing the topic. We included trials involving AA adult women, ages 18–64, and we included RCTs that involved multifactorial interventions. Outcomes of interest were MetS, chronic disease, and CVD risk factors (blood pressure, blood lipids, blood glucose, BMI, waist circumference, and mental health domains. Two authors independently selected trials for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed risks of bias. Main Results. We identified five trials for inclusion in this review. One study reported outcomes associated with the full MetS symptom cluster. The included trials were small, short term, and at high risk of bias. All interventions lasted at least 6 weeks.

  3. Dynamic JUNQ inclusion bodies are asymmetrically inherited in mammalian cell lines through the asymmetric partitioning of vimentin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogrodnik, Mikołaj; Salmonowicz, Hanna; Brown, Rachel; Turkowska, Joanna; Średniawa, Władysław; Pattabiraman, Sundararaghavan; Amen, Triana; Abraham, Ayelet-chen; Eichler, Noam; Lyakhovetsky, Roman; Kaganovich, Daniel

    2014-06-03

    Aging is associated with the accumulation of several types of damage: in particular, damage to the proteome. Recent work points to a conserved replicative rejuvenation mechanism that works by preventing the inheritance of damaged and misfolded proteins by specific cells during division. Asymmetric inheritance of misfolded and aggregated proteins has been shown in bacteria and yeast, but relatively little evidence exists for a similar mechanism in mammalian cells. Here, we demonstrate, using long-term 4D imaging, that the vimentin intermediate filament establishes mitotic polarity in mammalian cell lines and mediates the asymmetric partitioning of damaged proteins. We show that mammalian JUNQ inclusion bodies containing soluble misfolded proteins are inherited asymmetrically, similarly to JUNQ quality-control inclusions observed in yeast. Mammalian IPOD-like inclusion bodies, meanwhile, are not always inherited by the same cell as the JUNQ. Our study suggests that the mammalian cytoskeleton and intermediate filaments provide the physical scaffold for asymmetric inheritance of dynamic quality-control JUNQ inclusions. Mammalian IPOD inclusions containing amyloidogenic proteins are not partitioned as effectively during mitosis as their counterparts in yeast. These findings provide a valuable mechanistic basis for studying the process of asymmetric inheritance in mammalian cells, including cells potentially undergoing polar divisions, such as differentiating stem cells and cancer cells.

  4. Lewy Body Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... range of symptoms, including Changes in alertness and attention Hallucinations Problems with movement and posture Muscle stiffness Confusion Loss of memory Lewy body disease can be hard to diagnose, ...

  5. Injection of Botulinum Toxin a to Upper Esophageal Sphincter for Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Two Patients with Inclusion Body Myositis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Louis WC Liu

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Inclusion body myositis (IBM is a progressive degenerative skeletal muscle disease leading to weakening and atrophy of both proximal and distal muscles. Dysphagia is reported in up to 86% of IBM patients. Surgical cricopharyngeal myotomy may be effective for cricopharyngeal dysphagia and there is one published report that botulinum toxin A, injected into the cricopharyngeus muscle using a hypopharyngoscope under general anesthesia, relieved IBM-associated dysphagia. This report presents the first documentation of botulinum toxin A injection into the upper esophageal sphincter using a flexible esophagogastroduodenoscope under conscious sedation, to reduce upper esophageal sphincter pressure and successfully alleviate oropharyngeal dysphagia in two IBM patients.

  6. Whole-body vibration and musculoskeletal diseases in professional truck drivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geraldo Fabiano de Souza Moraes

    Full Text Available Abstract Background: Most occupational diseases do not fit the paradigm of medical interpretation of the health-disease process based on linear causality, in which it would be possible to find a single cause for each type of disease. Objectives: to conduct a systematic review in order to investigate the association between whole-body vibration (WBV and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD in professional truck drivers (PTD. Methods: The scientific databases of PubMed, Cochrane, Lilacs and Scielo were used to collect articles published from 2000 until the present time. Two independent reviewers adopted inclusion and quality criteria to evaluate the selected articles. Results: From adopted inclusion and quality criteria, nine articles were chosen to identify the association between MSD and WBV in PTD. The results showed that MSD seems to be closely associated to exposure to WBV in these workers, mainly due to high prevalence and symptoms of low back pain. Two cohort studies showed exposure to WBV as risk for MSD. Only one, with case-control design, did not show WBV as a significant factor. Conclusions: In this study the importance of exposure analysis of WBV in the occurrence of MSD in PTD was elucidated. This study showed the importance of WBV exposure analysis on the occurrence of MSD in PTD. There is adequate information to provide rationale for the reduction of WBV exposure to the lowest possible level, to ensure the health of these workers. Studies with a greater power of investigation, of a prospective, design, should be encouraged, supplanting those only of association.

  7. Estudo comparativo das inclusões do alastrim e da vacina no macaco (Macacus rhesus A comparison of the inclusion bodies of alastrim and vaccinia in the monkey (Macacus rhesus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Magarinos Torres

    1934-02-01

    Full Text Available Vesiculas e pustulas contendo numerosas inclusões citoplasmicas nas celulas epidermicas, foram regularmente produzidas no macaco (Macacus rhesus, quer com o virus do alastrim, quer com o da vacina, após inoculação endovenosa e sem previa escarificação. O virus do alastrim parece menos virulento para essa especie de macaco que o da vacina. Ao passo que 12 macacos rhesus injetados por via endovenosa com sete amostras diferentes de virus do alastrim, após apresentarem com regularidade um infecção experimental, sobreviveram e se conservaram em boa saúde, a injecção endovenosa do virus da vacina recentemente preparado (polpa bruta produziu a morte em 2, dentre 4 animais experimentados. 2. - Foram notadas diferenças pequenas, mas nitidas, na morfologia das inclusões do alastrim e da vacina, em material fixado no liquido de Helly, incluido em parafina e corado pela hematoxilina-eosina. Dizem elas respeito ao numero de inclusões encontradas em cada celula epidermica e às suas reações de coloração. 3. - As inclusões do alastrim, quando apresentam grandes dimensões, conservam-se unicas ou solitarias no citoplasma das celulas epidermicas do macaco rhesus, e coram-se em tonalidade que varia do azul escuro ao cinzento-azulado. Comtudo, em celulas que sofreram necrose, ou naquelas contendo 2 a 4 inclusões de pequenas dimensões, por vezes elas se mostram coradas em roseo. 4. - As inclusões da vacina, quando em faze adeantada de desenvolvimento, são multiplas nas celulas epidermicas do macaco rhesus e mostram, regularmente, uma policromatofilia caracteristica.1. - Vesicles and pustules containing numerous cytoplasmic inclusion bodies within the epidermal cells were regularly produced in monkeys (Macacus rhesus by intravenous inoculation either of alastrim virus or of recently prepared vaccine emulsion, no previous scarifications being required. Alastrim virus seems less virulent for this species of monkey than the virus of vaccinia is

  8. Persistence of chicken anemia virus antigen and inclusions in spontaneous cases of Marek's disease visceral lymphomas in broiler chickens at slaughterhouses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Mohamed Sabry; Ono, Hiroki; Sasaki, Jun; Ochiai, Kenji; Goryo, Masanobu

    2016-06-01

    The chicken anemia virus (CAV) and Marek's disease virus (MDV) infect chickens worldwide; a single or dual infection by these viruses has a great impact on poultry production. In the present study, we examined the existence of CAV antigen and its inclusions in Marek's disease (MD) lymphomas in chickens in the slaughterhouses of Iwate prefecture, Japan. Forty-nine spleens and 13 livers with different degrees of nodular lesions were histopathologically examined at our laboratory. Grossly, the tested organs showed various sizes and anatomical architectures. Based on the cellular morphology and the infiltrative nature of the neoplastic lymphocytes, MD was confirmed in 76% (37/49) of the spleens and 92% (12/13) of the livers. The lesions of MD, according to the pattern of lymphocytic accumulation in the affected organs, were divided into multifocal, coalesced and diffuse. CAV intranuclear inclusion bodies were detected within the small and the large bizarre lymphocytes of the MD lymphomas in 2 livers and 9 spleens, and the immunostaining test for CAV confirmed the persistence of CAV antigens and inclusions in the neoplastic cells. This study demonstrated the persistence of CAV infection within the neoplastic cells of naturally occurring MD lymphomas in chickens.

  9. Myo5b knockout mice as a model of microvillus inclusion disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Carton-Garcia, Fernando; Overeem, Arend W.; Nieto, Rocio; Bazzocco, Sarah; Dopeso, Higinio; Macaya, Irati; Bilic, Josipa; Landolfi, Stefania; Hernandez-Losa, Javier; Schwartz, Simo; Ramon y Cajal, Santiago; van Ijzendoorn, Sven C. D.; Arango, Diego

    2015-01-01

    Inherited MYO5B mutations have recently been associated with microvillus inclusion disease (MVID), an autosomal recessive syndrome characterized by intractable, life-threatening, watery diarrhea appearing shortly after birth. Characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease and

  10. A camelid nanobody against EGFR was easily obtained through refolding of inclusion body expressed in Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Li; Song, Xiaoyu; Jia, Lingyun

    2017-11-01

    Using anti-EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) nanobody is a good choice for diagnoses and therapeutics for high EGFR expression diseases. In the present study, the percentage composition of anti-EGFR nanobody attained 25% of the total cell protein expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). However, almost all nanobodies were expressed as inclusion bodies. To acquire active nanobodies, a series of dilution refolding procedures were optimized after inclusion bodies were dissolved into 6 M urea and purified with immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The results showed the refolding rate of the anti-EGFR nanobodies attained to 73%, and about 100 mg nanobodies were refolded from 1 L cells under the conditions that the initial nanobody concentration was 0.3 mg/mL, the dilution speed was 2.5 mL/Min, the dilution buffer was Tris-HCl at pH 8.0, the additives were 0.2 M Arg, 5 mM reduced glutathione (GSH), and 1 mM oxidized glutathione (GSSG). Then the activity of the refolded nanobodies was confirmed. The results showed that the refolded anti-EGFR nanobodies, in a dose-dependent manner, bounded to the tumor cell surface of A431 and MCF-7 and significantly inhibited the proliferation of A431 caused by the epidermal growth factor. Our study provides a facile method to rapidly, efficiently, and massively prepare anti-EGFR antibodies and promotes anti-EGFR-based recognition in cancer diagnoses and therapeutics. © 2016 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  11. Hepato nephropathology associated with inclusion body hepatitis complicated with citrinin mycotoxicosis in a broiler farm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asok Kumar Mariappan

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Aim: Mortality in a broiler chicken farm was investigated for identifying the cause of mortality. Materials and Methods: A broiler farm with a population of 16000 succumbed to a disease outbreak. Clinical signs, vaccination history and mortality, were recorded. Necropsy examination and microscopic examination were carried out along with toxicological and molecular studies. Results: The clinical signs in the affected broiler birds were of non-specific nature with a total mortality of 26.39%. Postmortem examination and microscopical findings revealed hepatitis with basophilic intranuclear inclusion, splenitis, myocarditis, and nephritis. Glomerulonephritis was the prominent renal pathology recorded in this study. Polymerase chain reaction test confirmed the presence of fowl adenovirus (FAdV genome in the target organs, and toxicological examination by thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of a toxic level of citrinin in the feed samples. Conclusion: Based on various diagnostic investigations, the mortality in the flock was attributed to inclusion body hepatitis (IBH complicated with citrinin mycotoxicosis. Thus, apart from liver pathology which occurs in a classical IBH cases, glomerulonephritis too occurs which are also a prominent finding which pathologists often miss. Thus, kidneys should also be examined histologically to assess the microscopic tissue alterations in poultry suspected for IBH along with a mycotoxicological analysis of feed. This will definitely throw light on the synergistic pathology elicited and exhibited by FAdV and mycotoxins in the poultry.

  12. An Amino Acid of Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 3 Nucleoprotein Is Critical for Template Function and Cytoplasmic Inclusion Body Formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shengwei; Chen, Longyun; Zhang, Guangyuan; Yan, Qin; Yang, Xiaodan; Ding, Binbin; Tang, Qiaopeng; Sun, Shengjun; Hu, Zhulong

    2013-01-01

    The nucleoprotein (N) and phosphoprotein (P) interaction of nonsegmented negative-strand RNA viruses is essential for viral replication; this includes N0-P (N0, free of RNA) interaction and the interaction of N-RNA with P. The precise site(s) within N that mediates the N-P interaction and the detailed regulating mechanism, however, are less clear. Using a human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3) minigenome assay, we found that an N mutant (NL478A) did not support reporter gene expression. Using in vivo and in vitro coimmunoprecipitation, we found that NL478A maintains the ability to form NL478A0-P, to self-assemble, and to form NL478A-RNA but that NL478A-RNA does not interact with P. Using an immunofluorescence assay, we found that N-P interaction provides the minimal requirement for the formation of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies, which contain viral RNA, N, P, and polymerase in HPIV3-infected cells. NL478A was unable to form inclusion bodies when coexpressed with P, but the presence of N rescued the ability of NL478A to form inclusion bodies and the transcriptional function of NL478A, thereby suggesting that hetero-oligomers formed by N and NL478A are functional and competent to form inclusion bodies. Furthermore, we found that NL478A is also defective in virus growth. To our knowledge, we are the first to use a paramyxovirus to identify a precise amino acid within N that is critical for N-RNA and P interaction but not for N0-P interaction for the formation of inclusion bodies, which appear to be bona fide sites of RNA synthesis. PMID:24027324

  13. High pH solubilization and chromatography-based renaturation and purification of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ming; Fan, Hua; Liu, Jiahua; Wang, Minhong; Wang, Lili; Wang, Chaozhan

    2012-03-01

    Recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) is a very efficient therapeutic protein drug which has been widely used in human clinics to treat cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. In this study, rhG-CSF was solubilized from inclusion bodies by using a high-pH solution containing low concentration of urea. It was found that solubilization of the rhG-CSF inclusion bodies greatly depended on the buffer pH employed; alkalic pH significantly favored the solubilization. In addition, when small amount of urea was added to the solution at high pH, the solubilization was further enhanced. After solubilization, the rhG-CSF was renatured with simultaneous purification by using weak anion exchange, strong anion exchange, and hydrophobic interaction chromatography, separately. The results indicated that the rhG-CSF solubilized by the high-pH solution containing low concentration of urea had much higher mass recovery than the one solubilized by 8 M urea when using anyone of the three refolding methods employed in this work. In the case of weak anion exchange chromatography, the high pH solubilized rhG-CSF could get a mass recovery of 73%. The strategy of combining solubilization of inclusion bodies at high pH with refolding of protein using liquid chromatography may become a routine method for protein production from inclusion bodies.

  14. Expression of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase B in Escherichia coli and Its Recovery from Inclusion Body

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lalu Rudyat Telly Savalas

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study aims at expressing and partially purifying PtpB in active form. To achieve this, Mtb PtpB gene has been cloned into pET30a vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL 21(DE3 under IPTG induction in the form of an inclusion body. Following resolubilization by urea and dialysis, the resulted PtpB has been shown to be active against para-Nitrophenyl phosphate.  It is concluded that the resulted PtpB has had been recovered from inclusion body to give the active form of the enzyme, and thus the success in overexpressing PtpB provides the required material to investigate the biochemical properties of the pathogen virulence factor further. 

  15. Functional organization of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in cells infected by respiratory syncytial virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rincheval, Vincent; Lelek, Mickael; Gault, Elyanne; Bouillier, Camille; Sitterlin, Delphine; Blouquit-Laye, Sabine; Galloux, Marie; Zimmer, Christophe; Eleouet, Jean-François; Rameix-Welti, Marie-Anne

    2017-09-15

    Infection of cells by respiratory syncytial virus induces the formation of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies (IBs) where all the components of the viral RNA polymerase complex are concentrated. However, the exact organization and function of these IBs remain unclear. In this study, we use conventional and super-resolution imaging to dissect the internal structure of IBs. We observe that newly synthetized viral mRNA and the viral transcription anti-terminator M2-1 concentrate in IB sub-compartments, which we term "IB-associated granules" (IBAGs). In contrast, viral genomic RNA, the nucleoprotein, the L polymerase and its cofactor P are excluded from IBAGs. Live imaging reveals that IBAGs are highly dynamic structures. Our data show that IBs are the main site of viral RNA synthesis. They further suggest that shortly after synthesis in IBs, viral mRNAs and M2-1 transiently concentrate in IBAGs before reaching the cytosol and suggest a novel post-transcriptional function for M2-1.Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) induces formation of inclusion bodies (IBs) sheltering viral RNA synthesis. Here, Rincheval et al. identify highly dynamic IB-associated granules (IBAGs) that accumulate newly synthetized viral mRNA and the viral M2-1 protein but exclude viral genomic RNA and RNA polymerase complexes.

  16. Upon Infection the Cellular WD Repeat-containing Protein 5 (WDR5) Localizes to Cytoplasmic Inclusion Bodies and Enhances Measles Virus Replication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Dzwokai; George, Cyril X; Nomburg, Jason; Pfaller, Christian K; Cattaneo, Roberto; Samuel, Charles E

    2017-12-13

    Replication of negative-strand RNA viruses occurs in association with discrete cytoplasmic foci called inclusion bodies. Whereas inclusion bodies represent a prominent subcellular structure induced by viral infection, our knowledge of the cellular protein components involved in inclusion body formation and function is limited. Using measles virus-infected HeLa cells, we found that the WD repeat-containing protein 5 (WDR5), a subunit of histone H3 lysine 4 methyltransferases, was selectively recruited to virus-induced inclusion bodies. Furthermore, WDR5 was found in complexes containing viral proteins associated with RNA replication. WDR5 was not detected with mitochondria, stress granules, or other known secretory or endocytic compartments of infected cells. WDR5 deficiency decreased both viral protein production and infectious virus yields. Interferon production was modestly increased in WDR5 deficient cells. Thus, our study identifies WDR5 as a novel viral inclusion body-associated cellular protein and suggests a role for WDR5 in promoting viral replication. IMPORTANCE Measles virus is a human pathogen that remains a global concern with more than 100,000 measles-related deaths annually despite the availability of an effective vaccine. As measles continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality, understanding the virus-host interactions at the molecular level that affect virus replication efficiency is important for development and optimization of treatment procedures. Measles virus is an RNA virus that encodes six genes and replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells in discrete cytoplasmic replication bodies, though little is known of the biochemical nature of these structures. Here we show that the cellular protein WDR5 is enriched in the cytoplasmic viral replication factories and enhances virus growth. WDR5-containing protein complex includes viral proteins responsible for viral RNA replication. Thus, we have identified WDR5 as a host factor that

  17. Access to gram scale amounts of functional globular adiponectin from E. coli inclusion bodies by alkaline-shock solubilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heiker, John T; Klöting, Nora; Blüher, Matthias; Beck-Sickinger, Annette G

    2010-07-16

    The adipose tissue derived protein adiponectin exerts anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effects. Adiponectin serum concentrations are in the microgram per milliliter range in healthy humans and inversely correlate with obesity and metabolic disorders. Accordingly, raising circulating adiponectin levels by direct administration may be an intriguing strategy in the treatment of obesity-related metabolic disorders. However production of large amounts of recombinant adiponectin protein is a primary obstacle so far. Here, we report a novel method for large amount production of globular adiponectin from E. coli inclusion bodies utilizing an alkaline-shock solubilization method without chaotropic agents followed by precipitation of the readily renaturing protein. Precipitation of the mildly solubilized protein capitalizes on advantages of inclusion body formation. This approach of inclusion body protein recovery provides access to gram scale amounts of globular adiponectin with standard laboratory equipment avoiding vast dilution or dialysis steps to neutralize the pH and renature the protein, thus saving chemicals and time. The precipitated protein is readily renaturing in buffer, is of adequate purity without a chromatography step and shows biological activity in cultured MCF7 cells and significantly lowered blood glucose levels in mice with streptozotocin induced type 1 diabetes. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. α-Synuclein inclusions in the skin of Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Leyva, Ildefonso; Calderón-Garcidueñas, Ana Laura; Jiménez-Capdeville, María E; Rentería-Palomo, Ana Arely; Hernandez-Rodriguez, Héctor Gerardo; Valdés-Rodríguez, Rodrigo; Fuentes-Ahumada, Cornelia; Torres-Álvarez, Bertha; Sepúlveda-Saavedra, Julio; Soto-Domínguez, Adolfo; Santoyo, Martha E; Rodriguez-Moreno, José Ildefonso; Castanedo-Cázares, Juan Pablo

    2014-07-01

    The presence in the brain of α-synuclein containing Lewy neurites, or bodies, is the histological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). The discovery of α-synuclein aggregates in nerve endings of the heart, digestive tract, and skin has lent support to the concept of PD as a systemic disease. Our goals were, first, to demonstrate the presence of α-synuclein inclusions in the skin and, second, to detect quantitative differences between patients with PD and atypical parkinsonism (AP). Skin biopsies were taken from 67 patients and 20 controls. The biopsies underwent immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) testing for α-synuclein, whereupon its presence was quantified as the percentage of positive cells. Patients were divided into those with PD and those with AP. AP patients included AP with neurodegenerative disease (proteinopathies) and secondary AP. Sixty-seven patients (34 with PD) and 20 controls were recruited. In the PD group, α-synuclein was detected in 58% of the cells in the spinous cell layer (SCL), 62% in the pilosebaceous unit (PSU), and 58% in the eccrine glands (EG). The AP-proteinopathies group showed 7%, 7%, and 0% expression of α-synuclein, respectively. No expression was found in the skin of the control group. The expression of α-synuclein in the skin was relatively high in the PD group, scarce in AP, and null for the individuals in the control group. While these findings require further confirmation, this minimally invasive technique may aid in the improvement of the accuracy of PD diagnoses.

  19. The late endocytic Rab39a GTPase regulates the interaction between multivesicular bodies and chlamydial inclusions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gambarte Tudela, Julian; Capmany, Anahi; Romao, Maryse; Quintero, Cristian; Miserey-Lenkei, Stephanie; Raposo, Graca; Goud, Bruno; Damiani, Maria Teresa

    2015-08-15

    Given their obligate intracellular lifestyle, Chlamydia trachomatis ensure that they have access to multiple host sources of essential lipids by interfering with vesicular transport. These bacteria hijack Rab6-, Rab11- and Rab14-controlled trafficking pathways to acquire sphingomyelin from the Golgi complex. Another important source of sphingolipids, phospholipids and cholesterol are multivesicular bodies (MVBs). Despite their participation in chlamydial inclusion development and bacterial replication, the molecular mechanisms mediating the interaction between MVBs and chlamydial inclusions remain unknown. In the present study, we demonstrate that Rab39a labels a subset of late endocytic vesicles - mainly MVBs - that move along microtubules. Moreover, Rab39a is actively recruited to chlamydial inclusions throughout the pathogen life cycle by a bacterial-driven process that depends on the Rab39a GTP- or GDP-binding state. Interestingly, Rab39a participates in the delivery of MVBs and host sphingolipids to maturing chlamydial inclusions, thereby promoting inclusion growth and bacterial development. Taken together, our findings indicate that Rab39a favours chlamydial replication and infectivity. This is the first report showing that a late endocytic Rab GTPase is involved in chlamydial infection development. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  20. Nonlinear elastic inclusions in isotropic solids

    KAUST Repository

    Yavari, A.; Goriely, A.

    2013-01-01

    We introduce a geometric framework to calculate the residual stress fields and deformations of nonlinear solids with inclusions and eigenstrains. Inclusions are regions in a body with different reference configurations from the body itself and can

  1. Functional impairment in patients with sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlap, Heather V; Macneil, Lauren G; Tarnopolsky, Mark A

    2014-03-01

    We conducted a retrospective chart review of 53 patients diagnosed with sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis (sIBM) who have been followed at the McMaster Neuromuscular Clinic since 1996. We reviewed patient medical histories in order to compare our findings with similar cohorts, and analyzed quantitative strength data to determine functionality in guiding decisions related to gait assistive devices. Patient information was acquired through retrospective clinic chart review. Our study found knee extension strength decreased significantly as patients transitioned to using more supportive gait assistive devices (P cane)(P Falls and fear of falling poses a significant threat to patient physical well-being. The prevalence of dysphagia increased as patients required more supportive gait devices, and finally a significant negative correlation was found between time after onset and creatine kinase (CK) levels (P falling would be beneficial in preventing future falls and improving long-term patient outcomes.

  2. Mind-body practices for patients with cardiac disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Younge, John O; Gotink, Rinske A; Baena, Cristina P; Roos-Hesselink, Jolien W; Hunink, M G Myriam

    2015-11-01

    Due to new treatment modalities in the last decades, a decline in cardiovascular deaths has been observed. There is an emerging field of secondary prevention and behavioural programmes with increased interest in the use of mind-body practices. Until now, these have not been established in cardiovascular disease treatment programmes. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available evidence on the effectiveness of mind-body practices for patients with diagnosed cardiac disease. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs), published in English, reporting mind-body practices for patients with diagnosed cardiac disease. EMBASE, MEDLINE, Pubmed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PsycINFO were searched up to July 2013. Two reviewers independently identified studies for inclusion and extracted data on study characteristics, outcomes (Quality of Life, anxiety, depression, physical parameters and exercise tolerance) and quality assessment. Standardized effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated comparing the outcomes between the intervention and control group and random effects meta-analysis was conducted. We identified 11 unique RCTs with an overall low quality. The studies evaluated mindfulness-based stress reduction, transcendental meditation, progressive muscle relaxation and stress management. Pooled analyses revealed effect sizes of 0.45 (95%CI 0.20-0.72) for physical quality of life, 0.68 (95%CI 0.10-1.26) for mental quality of life, 0.61 (95%CI 0.23-0.99) for depression, 0.52 (95%CI 0.26-0.78) for anxiety, 0.48 (95%CI 0.27-0.69) for systolic blood pressure and 0.36 (95%CI 0.15-0.57) for diastolic blood pressure. Mind-body practices have encouraging results for patients with cardiac disease. Our review demonstrates the need for high-quality studies in this field. © The European Society of Cardiology 2014.

  3. Possibilities of whole-body MRI for investigating musculoskeletal diseases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lenk, S.; Claussen, C.D.; Schlemmer, H.P.; Fischer, S.; Koetter, I.

    2004-01-01

    This contribution outlines possibilities and limitations of whole-body MRI for investigating musculoskeletal diseases. Benefits and drawbacks of the novel whole-body MRI technology are discussed and a possible whole-body MRI sequence protocol for musculoskeletal examinations is proposed. Muscle, joint and bone diseases are discussed in which the application of whole-body MRI may be of advantage. Particularly, polymyositis, muscledystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, spondylitis ancylosans, multiple trauma, skeletal metastases, multiple myeloma and malignant lymphoma are mentioned. Whole-body MRI opens new advantages for the examination of multifocal musculoskeletal diseases. The clinical benefit of this method for particular diseases has to be evaluated in further studies, however. (orig.) [de

  4. Investigation of the phase morphology of bacterial PHA inclusion bodies by contrast variation SANS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Russell, R.A.; Holden, P.J.; Garvey, C.J.; Wilde, K.L.; Hammerton, K.M.; Foster, L.J.

    2006-01-01

    Under growth-limiting conditions, many bacteria are able to metabolise excess organic acids into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and store these polymers as intracellular inclusions until the return of favourable conditions. Various models have been proposed for the macromolecular organisation of the boundary layer surrounding the polymer, and contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to study its organisation. Inclusions formed by Pseudomonas oleovorans under hydrogenating conditions showed lowest scattering intensity at ca. 20% D 2 O. The inclusions consist of protein and membrane lipids in the boundary layer and polyhydroxyoctanoate (lipid) in the inclusion body. At 20% D 2 O the contributions of lipids were contrast matched with the solvent, indicating that lipids contributed the bulk of the scattering intensity observed at other D 2 O/H 2 O ratios. These results are inconsistent with a model of the boundary layer which proposed outer and inner layers of crystalline protein lattice sandwiching a membrane lipid membrane layer [E.S. Stuart, R.W. Lenz, R.C. Fuller, Can J Microbiol 41(Suppl 1) (1995) 84-93], and is more consistent with a model consisting of a lipid monolayer containing embedded proteins [U. Pieper-furst, M.H. Madkour, F. Mayer, A. Steinbuchel, J. Bacteriol. 176 (1994) 4328-4337.] By altering the H/D content of the precursors, we were able to collect SANS data from preparations of both deuterated and H/D copolymer inclusions, where initial PHA produced was hydrogenated followed by deuteration. Deuterated inclusions showed minimum intensity above 90% D 2 O/H 2 O whereas the sequentially produced copolymer (assumed to be in a core/shell arrangement) displayed minimum scattering some 20% lower, which is consistent with the increased hydrogenation of the boundary layer expected from its synthesis during supply of hydrogenated followed by deuterated precursors

  5. Avian Adenoviruses Infections with Special Attention to Inclusion Body Hepatitis/ Hydropericardium Syndrome and Egg Drop Syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hafez Mohamed Hafez*

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The first avian adenovirus (AAV associated with clinical disease was isolated from an outbreak of respiratory disease in quail in 1950 (Olson, 1950. Since that time, AAVs have been found in all types and breeds of chickens and from a variety of other avian species. The infections may be asymptomatic or associated with several clinical and pathological conditions. Vertical transmission via the egg is the most common way of transmission. Also horizontal transmission through faeces, contaminated egg trays, crates and trucks play a role in the infection route. Studies have demonstrated the presence of antibodies in healthy poultry, and viruses have been isolated from normal birds. Avian adenoviruses in chickens are the etiological agents of 2 diseases known as inclusion body hepatitis (IBH and hydropericardium syndrome (HP. In some cases each condition is observed separately, however, recently the 2 conditions have frequently been observed as a single entity; therefore, the name hepatitis hydropericardium has been widely used to describe the pathologic condition. The syndrome is an acute disease of young chickens associated with anemia, haemorrhagic disorders, hydropericardium and high mortality. Egg-Drop-Syndrome (EDS is caused also by an adenovirus. The disease is characterised by a severe drop in egg production as well as the production of shell-less, thin-shelled, discoloured or misshapen eggs in apparently healthy birds. Ducks and geese are the natural host of the EDS virus. It was first described in chickens in the 1970s and spread to several countries world wide. The birds usually do not show any other signs of disease, and mortality is not expected. There is no specific treatment of the AAV infections. Active immunization by vaccination using an inactivated is wide spread.

  6. OUTPATIENT PHYSICAL THERAPY EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF A PATIENT DIAGNOSED WITH SPORADIC INCLUSION BODY MYOSITIS: A CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tyler Harrigfeld

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Sporadic inclusion body myositis is an autoimmune and degenerative disorder of skeletal muscle that affects people at random. It most commonly begins as progressive weakness and atrophy of lower extremity musculature, beginning with the proximal leg. These impairments in body structure adversely affect the performance of functional activities and mobility, resulting in a progressive decrease in independence and participation both at home and in the community. Physical therapy attempts to minimize these effects through educational and procedural interventions focused on treating impairments and limitations. The purpose of this case study was to provide a description of the physical therapy management of a patient diagnosed with sporadic inclusion body myositis. Case Summary: The patient was a 66-year-old male who was diagnosed with sporadic inclusion body myositis with a chief complaint of weakness and fall risk. He presented with generalized lower extremity weakness and atrophy of bilateral quadriceps, as well as impaired balance and increasing fatigue with activity. Therapeutic exercise, home exercise program, balance, gait, and stair training were delivered to address these impairments. Patient outcomes showed improvement in balance and safety with functional activities. Discussion: The patient was seen for seven visits that were 45 – 60 minutes in length, over a five-week period. The patient made subjective reports of improvement in functional activities and balance; however many objective outcome measures could not be reassessed. There is a need for further research on this population to determine the effectiveness and parameters of physical therapy interventions. Conclusion: Physical therapy may have helped improve balance as well as subjective reports from the patient of increased feeling of confidence while navigating stairs.

  7. Effective interactions between inclusions in an active bath

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaeifi Yamchi, Mahdi; Naji, Ali

    2017-11-01

    We study effective two- and three-body interactions between non-active colloidal inclusions in an active bath of chiral or non-chiral particles, using Brownian dynamics simulations within a standard, two-dimensional model of disk-shaped inclusions and active particles. In a non-chiral active bath, we first corroborate previous findings on effective two-body repulsion mediated between the inclusions by elucidating the detailed non-monotonic features of the two-body force profiles, including a primary maximum and a secondary hump at larger separations that was not previously reported. We then show that these features arise directly from the formation, and sequential overlaps, of circular layers (or "rings") of active particles around the inclusions, as the latter are brought to small surface separations. These rings extend to radial distances of a few active-particle radii from the surface of inclusions, giving the hard-core inclusions relatively thick, soft, repulsive "shoulders," whose multiple overlaps then enable significant (non-pairwise) three-body forces in both non-chiral and chiral active baths. The resulting three-body forces can even exceed the two-body forces in magnitude and display distinct repulsive and attractive regimes at intermediate to large self-propulsion strengths. In a chiral active bath, we show that, while active particles still tend to accumulate at the immediate vicinity of the inclusions, they exhibit strong depletion from the intervening region between the inclusions and partial depletion from relatively thick, circular zones further away from the inclusions. In this case, the effective, predominantly repulsive interactions between the inclusions turn to active, chirality-induced, depletion-type attractions, acting over an extended range of separations.

  8. A Drosophila model of dominant inclusion body myopathy type 3 shows diminished myosin kinetics that reduce muscle power and yield myofibrillar defects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suggs, Jennifer A; Melkani, Girish C; Glasheen, Bernadette M; Detor, Mia M; Melkani, Anju; Marsan, Nathan P; Swank, Douglas M; Bernstein, Sanford I

    2017-06-01

    Individuals with inclusion body myopathy type 3 (IBM3) display congenital joint contractures with early-onset muscle weakness that becomes more severe in adulthood. The disease arises from an autosomal dominant point mutation causing an E706K substitution in myosin heavy chain type IIa. We have previously expressed the corresponding myosin mutation (E701K) in homozygous Drosophila indirect flight muscles and recapitulated the myofibrillar degeneration and inclusion bodies observed in the human disease. We have also found that purified E701K myosin has dramatically reduced actin-sliding velocity and ATPase levels. Since IBM3 is a dominant condition, we now examine the disease state in heterozygote Drosophila in order to gain a mechanistic understanding of E701K pathogenicity. Myosin ATPase activities in heterozygotes suggest that approximately equimolar levels of myosin accumulate from each allele. In vitro actin sliding velocity rates for myosin isolated from the heterozygotes were lower than the control, but higher than for the pure mutant isoform. Although sarcomeric ultrastructure was nearly wild type in young adults, mechanical analysis of skinned indirect flight muscle fibers revealed a 59% decrease in maximum oscillatory power generation and an approximately 20% reduction in the frequency at which maximum power was produced. Rate constant analyses suggest a decrease in the rate of myosin attachment to actin, with myosin spending decreased time in the strongly bound state. These mechanical alterations result in a one-third decrease in wing beat frequency and marginal flight ability. With aging, muscle ultrastructure and function progressively declined. Aged myofibrils showed Z-line streaming, consistent with the human heterozygote phenotype. Based upon the mechanical studies, we hypothesize that the mutation decreases the probability of the power stroke occurring and/or alters the degree of movement of the myosin lever arm, resulting in decreased in vitro

  9. A Drosophila model of dominant inclusion body myopathy type 3 shows diminished myosin kinetics that reduce muscle power and yield myofibrillar defects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer A. Suggs

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Individuals with inclusion body myopathy type 3 (IBM3 display congenital joint contractures with early-onset muscle weakness that becomes more severe in adulthood. The disease arises from an autosomal dominant point mutation causing an E706K substitution in myosin heavy chain type IIa. We have previously expressed the corresponding myosin mutation (E701K in homozygous Drosophila indirect flight muscles and recapitulated the myofibrillar degeneration and inclusion bodies observed in the human disease. We have also found that purified E701K myosin has dramatically reduced actin-sliding velocity and ATPase levels. Since IBM3 is a dominant condition, we now examine the disease state in heterozygote Drosophila in order to gain a mechanistic understanding of E701K pathogenicity. Myosin ATPase activities in heterozygotes suggest that approximately equimolar levels of myosin accumulate from each allele. In vitro actin sliding velocity rates for myosin isolated from the heterozygotes were lower than the control, but higher than for the pure mutant isoform. Although sarcomeric ultrastructure was nearly wild type in young adults, mechanical analysis of skinned indirect flight muscle fibers revealed a 59% decrease in maximum oscillatory power generation and an approximately 20% reduction in the frequency at which maximum power was produced. Rate constant analyses suggest a decrease in the rate of myosin attachment to actin, with myosin spending decreased time in the strongly bound state. These mechanical alterations result in a one-third decrease in wing beat frequency and marginal flight ability. With aging, muscle ultrastructure and function progressively declined. Aged myofibrils showed Z-line streaming, consistent with the human heterozygote phenotype. Based upon the mechanical studies, we hypothesize that the mutation decreases the probability of the power stroke occurring and/or alters the degree of movement of the myosin lever arm, resulting in

  10. Establishment of mouse model of MYH9 disorders: heterozygous R702C mutation provokes macrothrombocytopenia with leukocyte inclusion bodies, renal glomerulosclerosis and hearing disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Nobuaki; Kunishima, Shinji; Ikejiri, Makoto; Maruyama, Shoichi; Sone, Michihiko; Takagi, Akira; Ikawa, Masahito; Okabe, Masaru; Kojima, Tetsuhito; Saito, Hidehiko; Naoe, Tomoki; Matsushita, Tadashi

    2013-01-01

    Nonmuscle myosin heavy chain IIA (NMMHCIIA) encoded by MYH9 is associated with autosomal dominantly inherited diseases called MYH9 disorders. MYH9 disorders are characterized by macrothrombocytopenia and very characteristic inclusion bodies in granulocytes. MYH9 disorders frequently cause nephritis, sensorineural hearing disability and cataracts. One of the most common and deleterious mutations causing these disorders is the R702C missense mutation. We generated knock-in mice expressing the Myh9 R702C mutation. R702C knock-in hetero mice (R702C+/- mice) showed macrothrombocytopenia. We studied megakaryopoiesis of cultured fetal liver cells of R702C+/- mice and found that proplatelet formation was impaired: the number of proplatelet tips was decreased, proplatelet size was increased, and proplatelet shafts were short and enlarged. Although granulocyte inclusion bodies were not visible by May-Grünwald Giemsa staining, immunofluorescence analysis indicated that NMMHCIIA proteins aggregated and accumulated in the granulocyte cytoplasm. In other organs, R702C+/- mice displayed albuminuria which increased with age. Renal pathology examination revealed glomerulosclerosis. Sensory hearing loss was indicated by lowered auditory brainstem response. These findings indicate that Myh9 R702C knock-in mice mirror features of human MYH9 disorders arising from the R702C mutation.

  11. Intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus in Lewy body diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Daniel; Halliday, Glenda M

    2009-02-16

    Although the intralaminar thalamus is a target of alpha-synuclein pathology in Parkinson's disease, the degree of neuronal loss in Lewy body diseases has not been assessed. We have used unbiased stereological techniques to quantify neuronal loss in intralaminar thalamic nuclei concentrating alpha-synuclein pathology (the anterodorsal, cucullar, parataenial, paraventricular, central medial, central lateral and centre-median/parafascicular complex) in different clinical forms of Lewy body disease (Parkinson's disease with and without dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies, N=21) compared with controls (N=5). Associations were performed in the Lewy body cases between intralaminar cell loss and the main diagnostic clinical (parkinsonism, dementia, fluctuation in consciousness, and visual hallucinations) and pathological (Braak stage of Parkinson's disease) features of these diseases, as well as between cell loss and the scaled severity of the alpha-synuclein deposition within the intralaminar thalamus. As expected, significant alpha-synuclein accumulation occurred in the intralaminar thalamus in the cases with Lewy body disease. Pathology concentrated anteriorly and in the central lateral and paraventricular nuclei was related to the Braak stage of Parkinson's disease, ageing, and the presence of dementia. Across all types of Lewy body cases there was substantial atrophy and neuronal loss in the central lateral, cucullar and parataenial nuclei, and neuronal loss without atrophy in the centre-median/parafascicular complex. Cases with visual hallucinations showed a greater degree of atrophy of the cucullar nucleus, possibly due to amygdala denervation. The significant degeneration demonstrated in the intralaminar thalamus is likely to contribute to the movement and cognitive dysfunction observed in Lewy body disorders.

  12. Angara disease

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Jane

    2011-10-12

    Oct 12, 2011 ... 1988). Since the disease emerged in this specific geographic area, HHS was initially referred to as “Angara. Disease”. The disease is caused by an avian adenovirus serotype-iv in Pakistan. This virus is responsible for development of intranuclear inclusion bodies in the cells of liver, pancreas and kidneys.

  13. Importin-α7 Is Involved in the Formation of Ebola Virus Inclusion Bodies but Is Not Essential for Pathogenicity in Mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabriel, Gülsah; Feldmann, Friederike; Reimer, Rudolph; Thiele, Swantje; Fischer, Meike; Hartmann, Enno; Bader, Michael; Ebihara, Hideki; Hoenen, Thomas; Feldmann, Heinz

    2015-10-01

    Ebola virus (EBOV) protein 24 antagonizes the host interferon (IFN) response by hijacking select nuclear importin-α isoforms. Thereby, it blocks STAT1-mediated IFN-α/β and IFN-γ synthesis. However, owing to the lack of importin-α knockout animal models in the past, their role in EBOV pathogenesis remained largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that importin-α7 is involved in the formation of EBOV inclusion bodies and replication. However, deletion of the gene encoding importin-α7 was not sufficient to increase survival rates among mice infected with EBOV. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  14. Catalytically-active inclusion bodies-Carrier-free protein immobilizates for application in biotechnology and biomedicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauss, Ulrich; Jäger, Vera D; Diener, Martin; Pohl, Martina; Jaeger, Karl-Erich

    2017-09-20

    Bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs) consist of unfolded protein aggregates and represent inactive waste products often accumulating during heterologous overexpression of recombinant genes in Escherichia coli. This general misconception has been challenged in recent years by the discovery that IBs, apart from misfolded polypeptides, can also contain substantial amounts of active and thus correctly or native-like folded protein. The corresponding catalytically-active inclusion bodies (CatIBs) can be regarded as a biologically-active sub-micrometer sized biomaterial or naturally-produced carrier-free protein immobilizate. Fusion of polypeptide (protein) tags can induce CatIB formation paving the way towards the wider application of CatIBs in synthetic chemistry, biocatalysis and biomedicine. In the present review we summarize the history of CatIBs, present the molecular-biological tools that are available to induce CatIB formation, and highlight potential lines of application. In the second part findings regarding the formation, architecture, and structure of (Cat)IBs are summarized. Finally, an overview is presented about the available bioinformatic tools that potentially allow for the prediction of aggregation and thus (Cat)IB formation. This review aims at demonstrating the potential of CatIBs for biotechnology and hopefully contributes to a wider acceptance of this promising, yet not widely utilized, protein preparation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Disease-related malnutrition: influence on body composition and prognosis

    OpenAIRE

    Pirlich, Matthias

    2010-01-01

    Disease-related malnutrition is a frequent clincal problem with severe medical and economic impact. This work summarizes studies on body composition analysis, risk factors, prevalence and prognostic impact of malnutrition. The diagnosis of malnutrition in patients with chronic liver disease is hampered by hyperhydration and requires body composition analysis. Using four different methods for body composition analysis (total body potassium counting, anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance analy...

  16. Sporadic inclusion-body myositis: conformational multifactorial ageing-related degenerative muscle disease associated with proteasomal and lysosomal inhibition, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and accumulation of amyloid-β42 oligomers and phosphorylated tau.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Askanas, Valerie; Engel, W King

    2011-04-01

    The pathogenesis of sporadic inclusion-body myositis (s-IBM), the most common muscle disease of older persons, is complex and multifactorial. Both the muscle fiber degeneration and the mononuclear-cell inflammation are components of the s-IBM pathology, but how each relates to the pathogenesis remains unsettled. We consider that the intramuscle fiber degenerative component plays the primary and the major pathogenic role leading to muscle fiber destruction and clinical weakness. In this article we review the newest research advances that provide a better understanding of the s-IBM pathogenesis. Cellular abnormalities occurring in s-IBM muscle fibers are discussed, including: several proteins that are accumulated in the form of aggregates within muscle fibers, including amyloid-β42 and its oligomers, and phosphorylated tau in the form of paired helical filaments, and we consider their putative detrimental influence; cellular mechanisms leading to protein misfolding and aggregation, including evidence of their inadequate disposal; pathogenic importance of endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response demonstrated in s-IBM muscle fibers; and decreased deacetylase activity of SIRT1. All these factors are combined with, and perhaps provoked by, an ageing intracellular milieu. Also discussed are the intriguing phenotypic similarities between s-IBM muscle fibers and the brains of Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease patients, the two most common neurodegenerative diseases associated with ageing. Muscle biopsy diagnostic criteria are also described and illustrated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  17. TDP-43 inclusion bodies formed in bacteria are structurally amorphous, non-amyloid and inherently toxic to neuroblastoma cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Capitini

    Full Text Available Accumulation of ubiquitin-positive, tau- and α-synuclein-negative intracellular inclusions of TDP-43 in the central nervous system represents the major hallmark correlated to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive inclusions. Such inclusions have variably been described as amorphous aggregates or more structured deposits having an amyloid structure. Following the observations that bacterial inclusion bodies generally consist of amyloid aggregates, we have overexpressed full-length TDP-43 and C-terminal TDP-43 in E. coli, purified the resulting full-length and C-terminal TDP-43 containing inclusion bodies (FL and Ct TDP-43 IBs and subjected them to biophysical analyses to assess their structure/morphology. We show that both FL and Ct TDP-43 aggregates contained in the bacterial IBs do not bind amyloid dyes such as thioflavin T and Congo red, possess a disordered secondary structure, as inferred using circular dichroism and infrared spectroscopies, and are susceptible to proteinase K digestion, thus possessing none of the hallmarks for amyloid. Moreover, atomic force microscopy revealed an irregular structure for both types of TDP-43 IBs and confirmed the absence of amyloid-like species after proteinase K treatment. Cell biology experiments showed that FL TDP-43 IBs were able to impair the viability of cultured neuroblastoma cells when added to their extracellular medium and, more markedly, when transfected into their cytosol, where they are at least in part ubiquitinated and phosphorylated. These data reveal an inherently high propensity of TDP-43 to form amorphous aggregates, which possess, however, an inherently high ability to cause cell dysfunction. This indicates that a gain of toxic function caused by TDP-43 deposits is effective in TDP-43 pathologies, in addition to possible loss of function mechanisms originating from the cellular mistrafficking of the protein.

  18. Production and purification of avian antibodies (IgYs from inclusion bodies of a recombinant protein central in NAD+ metabolism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula A. Moreno-González

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The use of hens for the production of polyclonal antibodies reduces animal intervention and moreover yields a higher quantity of antibodies than other animal models.  The phylogenetic distance between bird and mammal antigens, often leads to more specific avian antibodies than their mammalian counterparts.Since a large amount of antigen is required for avian antibody production, the use of recombinant proteins for this procedure has been growing faster over the last years. Nevertheless, recombinant protein production through heterologous systems frequently prompts the protein to precipitate, forming insoluble aggregates of limited utility (inclusion bodies. A methodology for the production of avian polyclonal antibodies, using recombinant protein from inclusion bodies is presented in this article.In order to produce the antigen, a recombinant Nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase from Giardia intestinalis (His-GiNMNAT was expressed in Escherichia coli.  The protein was purified through solubilization from inclusion bodies prior to its renaturalization.  Antibodies were purified from egg yolk of immunized hens by water dilution, followed by ammonium sulfate precipitation and thiophilic affinity chromatography.The purified antibodies were tested against His-GiNMNAT protein in Western blot essays. From one egg yolk, 14.4 mg of highly pure IgY were obtained; this antibody was able to detect 15ng of His-GiNMNAT.  IgY specificity was improved by means of antigen affinity purification, allowing its use for parasite protein recognition.

  19. Asymptomatic hyper-creatine-kinase-emia as sole manifestation of inclusion body myositis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josef Finsterer

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM usually manifests with painless weakness of the hand, finger and hip flexors. Absence of symptoms or signs, but mild hyper-CK-emia as the sole manifestation of IBM, has not been reported. We report the case of a 73-year-old male who presented with asymptomatic recurrent hyper-CK-emia ranging from 200 to 1324 U/L (n<171 U/L, since 10 years. Clinical neurologic investigation, nerve conduction studies and EMG were non-informative. Muscle biopsy surprisingly revealed sIBM. sIBM may be asymptomatic and may manifest with hyper-CK-emia exclusively. So, it has to be included in the differential diagnoses of asymptomatic hyper-CK-emia.

  20. Genetics Home Reference: adult polyglucosan body disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Additional NIH Resources (1 link) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Spasticity Information Page Educational Resources (6 links) Boston Children's Hospital: Neurogenic Bladder Disease InfoSearch: Polyglucosan body disease, ...

  1. Changes of the skull in general body diseases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koval', G.Yu.; Perepust, L.A.; Novikova, Eh.Z.

    1984-01-01

    Changes of the skull in the following body disease are considered. Diseases: endocrine diseases, fibrous osteodystrophy, reticulohistocytoses and noninfectious granulomas, the blood system diseases, disturbance of vitamin balance. Skull roentgenograms in some above-mentioned diseases are presented and analysed

  2. Infantile digital fibromatosis (inclusion body fibromatosis observed in a baby without finger involvement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avni Kaya

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available A 9-day-old male baby was hospitalized after his birth due to some swells under the skin. The hard consistency nodules observed under the skin all over the body of the patient were of different size, and presented lesions, among which the biggest was 1 × 1 cm. No lesions were observed on the fingers. By superficial ultrasonography, multiple isoechoic hypoechoic lesions were observed among the muscle plan. In thoracolumbar magnetic resonance imaging, multiple massif lesions retaining peripheral contrast (the biggest was 1.7 × 1.4 cm large had been observed under the skin muscle plans, between the muscles of the extremities. The biopsy was positive for smooth muscle actin, but negative for desmin, S100, and CD34. These findings were diagnosed as infantile digital fibromatosis (IDF (inclusion body fibromatosis. The case was presented with an objective to illustrate and remind that IDF can be observed in babies without finger involvement.

  3. Differential Disease Susceptibilities in Experimentally Reptarenavirus-Infected Boa Constrictors and Ball Pythons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez-Migallon Guzman, David; Garcia, Valentina E.; Layton, Marylee L.; Hoon-Hanks, Laura L.; Boback, Scott M.; Keel, M. Kevin; Drazenovich, Tracy

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Inclusion body disease (IBD) is an infectious disease originally described in captive snakes. It has traditionally been diagnosed by the presence of large eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions and is associated with neurological, gastrointestinal, and lymphoproliferative disorders. Previously, we identified and established a culture system for a novel lineage of arenaviruses isolated from boa constrictors diagnosed with IBD. Although ample circumstantial evidence suggested that these viruses, now known as reptarenaviruses, cause IBD, there has been no formal demonstration of disease causality since their discovery. We therefore conducted a long-term challenge experiment to test the hypothesis that reptarenaviruses cause IBD. We infected boa constrictors and ball pythons by cardiac injection of purified virus. We monitored the progression of viral growth in tissues, blood, and environmental samples. Infection produced dramatically different disease outcomes in snakes of the two species. Ball pythons infected with Golden Gate virus (GoGV) and with another reptarenavirus displayed severe neurological signs within 2 months, and viral replication was detected only in central nervous system tissues. In contrast, GoGV-infected boa constrictors remained free of clinical signs for 2 years, despite high viral loads and the accumulation of large intracellular inclusions in multiple tissues, including the brain. Inflammation was associated with infection in ball pythons but not in boa constrictors. Thus, reptarenavirus infection produces inclusions and inclusion body disease, although inclusions per se are neither necessarily associated with nor required for disease. Although the natural distribution of reptarenaviruses has yet to be described, the different outcomes of infection may reflect differences in geographical origin. IMPORTANCE New DNA sequencing technologies have made it easier than ever to identify the sequences of microorganisms in diseased tissues, i

  4. Newcastle disease virus-attenuated vaccine co-contaminated with fowl adenovirus and chicken infectious anemia virus results in inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome in poultry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Qi; Li, Yang; Meng, Fanfeng; Cui, Zhizhong; Chang, Shuang; Zhao, Peng

    2018-05-01

    Inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS) induced by fowl adenovirus type 4 (FAdV-4) has caused huge economic losses to the poultry industry of China, but the source of infection for different flocks, especially flocks with high biological safety conditions, has remained unclear. This study tested the pathogenicity of Newcastle disease virus (NDV)-attenuated vaccine from a large-scale poultry farm in China where IBH-HPS had appeared with high mortality. Analysis revealed that the NDV-attenuated vaccine in use from the abovementioned poultry farm was simultaneously contaminated with FAdV-4 and chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV). The FAdV and CIAV isolated from the vaccine were purified for the artificial preparation of an NDV-attenuated vaccine singly contaminated with FAdV or CIAV, or simultaneously contaminated with both of them. Seven-day-old specific pathogen-free chicks were inoculated with the artificially prepared contaminated vaccines and tested for corresponding indices. The experiments showed that no hydropericardium syndrome (HPS) and corresponding death occurred after administering the NDV-attenuated vaccine singly contaminated with FAdV or CIAV, but a mortality of 75% with IBH-HPS was commonly found in birds after administering the NDV-attenuated vaccine co-contaminated with FAdV and CIAV. In conclusion, this study found the co-contamination of FAdV-4 and CIAV in the same attenuated vaccine and confirmed that such a contaminated attenuated vaccine was a significant source of infection for outbreaks of IBH-HPS in some flocks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Nonlinear elastic inclusions in isotropic solids

    KAUST Repository

    Yavari, A.

    2013-10-16

    We introduce a geometric framework to calculate the residual stress fields and deformations of nonlinear solids with inclusions and eigenstrains. Inclusions are regions in a body with different reference configurations from the body itself and can be described by distributed eigenstrains. Geometrically, the eigenstrains define a Riemannian 3-manifold in which the body is stress-free by construction. The problem of residual stress calculation is then reduced to finding a mapping from the Riemannian material manifold to the ambient Euclidean space. Using this construction, we find the residual stress fields of three model systems with spherical and cylindrical symmetries in both incompressible and compressible isotropic elastic solids. In particular, we consider a finite spherical ball with a spherical inclusion with uniform pure dilatational eigenstrain and we show that the stress in the inclusion is uniform and hydrostatic. We also show how singularities in the stress distribution emerge as a consequence of a mismatch between radial and circumferential eigenstrains at the centre of a sphere or the axis of a cylinder.

  6. Structure and Stability of Molecular Crystals with Many-Body Dispersion-Inclusive Density Functional Tight Binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mortazavi, Majid; Brandenburg, Jan Gerit; Maurer, Reinhard J; Tkatchenko, Alexandre

    2018-01-18

    Accurate prediction of structure and stability of molecular crystals is crucial in materials science and requires reliable modeling of long-range dispersion interactions. Semiempirical electronic structure methods are computationally more efficient than their ab initio counterparts, allowing structure sampling with significant speedups. We combine the Tkatchenko-Scheffler van der Waals method (TS) and the many-body dispersion method (MBD) with third-order density functional tight-binding (DFTB3) via a charge population-based method. We find an overall good performance for the X23 benchmark database of molecular crystals, despite an underestimation of crystal volume that can be traced to the DFTB parametrization. We achieve accurate lattice energy predictions with DFT+MBD energetics on top of vdW-inclusive DFTB3 structures, resulting in a speedup of up to 3000 times compared with a full DFT treatment. This suggests that vdW-inclusive DFTB3 can serve as a viable structural prescreening tool in crystal structure prediction.

  7. Deploying and implementing Inclusive Physical Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliana Lúcia Ferreira

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Physical Education, as a curricular component of basic education, is not indifferent to the movement of Inclusive physical education. Differentiated bodies are conquering new social spaces. Our aim through this investigation is to identify the main historical practices regarding Brazilian Policy of Inclusive Education and to point out proposals to implement inclusive Physical education. Our methodology consists of a descriptive study based on two main axes. The first axis is related to a historical discussion whose source was national documents of reference about Inclusive Physical Education. The second axis is related to the experience of 2000 teachers; we have the occasion to analyze their practices on the subject of Inclusive physical education. As a result, this investigation also develops a proposal to inclusive physical education; this proposal is established in another dimension and understanding of work and movement. Concerning the final considerations we suggest a disruption with already crystallized bodily practices and we suggest actions respecting individual differences. Moreover, we point out the fact that Inclusive Physical Education has advocated another meaning for the body, in favor of a more collective physical education and searching for activities in which individuality prevails.

  8. Integrated continuous processing of proteins expressed as inclusion bodies: GCSF as a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kateja, Nikhil; Agarwal, Harshit; Hebbi, Vishwanath; Rathore, Anurag S

    2017-07-01

    Affordability of biopharmaceuticals continues to be a challenge, particularly in developing economies. This has fuelled advancements in manufacturing that can offer higher productivity and better economics without sacrificing product quality in the form of an integrated continuous manufacturing platform. While platform processes for monoclonal antibodies have existed for more than a decade, development of an integrated continuous manufacturing process for bacterial proteins has received relatively scant attention. In this study, we propose an end-to-end integrated continuous downstream process (from inclusion bodies to unformulated drug substance) for a therapeutic protein expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion body. The final process consisted of a continuous refolding in a coiled flow inverter reactor directly coupled to a three-column periodic counter-current chromatography for capture of the product followed by a three-column con-current chromatography for polishing. The continuous bioprocessing train was run uninterrupted for 26 h to demonstrate its capability and the resulting output was analyzed for the various critical quality attributes, namely product purity (>99%), high molecular weight impurities (<0.5%), host cell proteins (<100 ppm), and host cell DNA (<10 ppb). All attributes were found to be consistent over the period of operation. The developed assembly offers smaller facility footprint, higher productivity, fewer hold steps, and significantly higher equipment and resin utilization. The complexities of process integration in the context of continuous processing have been highlighted. We hope that the study presented here will promote development of highly efficient, universal, end-to-end, fully continuous platforms for manufacturing of biotherapeutics. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:998-1009, 2017. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

  9. Efficient inclusion body processing using chemical extraction and high gradient magnetic fishing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heebøll-Nielsen, Anders; Choe, W.S.; Middelberg, A.P.J.

    2003-01-01

    of the product-loaded supports with the aid of high gradient magnetic fields. The manufacture and testing of two types of micron-sized nonporous superparamagnetic metal chelator particles derivatized with iminodiacetic acid is described. In small-scale adsorption studies conducted with a hexahistidine tagged...... at a 60-fold increased scale using the high gradient magnetic fishing (HGMF) system to collect loaded Cu2+-chelator particles following batch adsorption of L1. Over 70% of the initial Ll present was recovered within the HGMF rig in a highly clarified form in two batch elution cycles with an overall......In this study we introduce a radical new approach for the recovery of proteins expressed in the form of inclusion bodies, involving W chemical extraction from the host cells, (ii) adsorptive capture of the target protein onto small magnetic adsorbents, and (iii) subsequent rapid collection...

  10. Immunohistochemical identification of messenger RNA-related proteins in basophilic inclusions of adult-onset atypical motor neuron disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujita, Kengo; Ito, Hidefumi; Nakano, Satoshi; Kinoshita, Yoshimi; Wate, Reika; Kusaka, Hirofumi

    2008-10-01

    This report concerns an immunohistochemical investigation on RNA-related proteins in the basophilic inclusions (BIs) from patients with adult-onset atypical motor neuron disease. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of the motor cortex and the lumbar spinal cord were examined. The BIs appeared blue in color with H&E and Nissl stain, and pink with methylgreen-pyronin stain. Ribonuclease pretreatment abolished the methylgreen-pyronin staining, suggesting that the BIs contained RNA. Immunohistochemically, the BIs were distinctly labeled with the antibodies against poly(A)-binding protein 1, T cell intracellular antigen 1, and ribosomal protein S6. These proteins are essential constituents of stress granules. In contrast, the BIs were not immunoreactive for ribosomal protein L28 and decapping enzyme 1, which are core components of transport ribonucleoprotein particles and processing bodies, respectively. Moreover, the BIs were not immunopositive for TDP-43. Our results imply that translation attenuation could be involved in the processes of BI formation in this disorder.

  11. SUMO-1 is associated with a subset of lysosomes in glial protein aggregate diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Mathew B; Goodwin, Jacob; Norazit, Anwar; Meedeniya, Adrian C B; Richter-Landsberg, Christiane; Gai, Wei Ping; Pountney, Dean L

    2013-01-01

    Oligodendroglial inclusion bodies characterize a subset of neurodegenerative diseases. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is characterized by α-synuclein glial cytoplasmic inclusions and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is associated with glial tau inclusions. The ubiquitin homologue, SUMO-1, has been identified in inclusion bodies in MSA, located in discrete sub-domains in α-synuclein-positive inclusions. We investigated SUMO-1 associated with oligodendroglial inclusion bodies in brain tissue from MSA and PSP and in glial cell models. We examined MSA and PSP cases and compared to age-matched normal controls. Fluorescence immunohistochemistry revealed frequent SUMO-1 sub-domains within and surrounding inclusions bodies in both diseases and showed punctate co-localization of SUMO-1 and the lysosomal marker, cathepsin D, in affected brain regions. Cell counting data revealed that 70-75 % of lysosomes in inclusion body-positive oligodendrocytes were SUMO-1-positive consistently across MSA and PSP cases, compared to 20 % in neighbouring inclusion body negative oligodendrocytes and 10 % in normal brain tissue. Hsp90 co-localized with some SUMO-1 puncta. We examined the SUMO-1 status of lysosomes in 1321N1 human glioma cells over-expressing α-synuclein and in immortalized rat oligodendrocyte cells over-expressing the four repeat form of tau following treatment with the proteasome inhibitor, MG132. We also transfected 1321N1 cells with the inherently aggregation-prone huntingtin exon 1 mutant, HttQ74-GFP. Each cell model showed the association of SUMO-1-positive lysosomes around focal cytoplasmic accumulations of α-synuclein, tau or HttQ74-GFP, respectively. Association of SUMO-1 with lysosomes was also detected in glial cells bearing α-synuclein aggregates in a rotenone-lesioned rat model. SUMO-1 labelling of lysosomes showed a major increase between 24 and 48 h post-incubation of 1321N1 cells with MG132 resulting in an increase in a 90 kDa SUMO-1-positive band

  12. Carotid body tumor imitator: An interesting case of Castleman's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shakir, Hakeem J; Diletti, Sara M; Hart, Alexandra M; Meyers, Joshua E; Dumont, Travis M; Siddiqui, Adnan H

    2015-01-01

    There are very few reports in the literature of Castleman's disease affecting the carotid artery and a single previous report of a case of Castleman's disease of the neck originally mistaken as a carotid body tumor. We describe a rare case of Castleman's disease, manifesting with classic radiographic hallmarks of a carotid body tumor. The postoperative pathologic examination identified the resected mass as Castleman's lymphadenopathy. The management of this particular case is discussed, and the findings are highlighted. We present a unique case of a tumor initially and incorrectly diagnosed as a carotid body tumor. However, after comprehensive treatment with endovascular and surgical modalities and subsequent pathologic examination, the diagnosis of this rare entity was made.

  13. Constraining the Thermochronological History of the IAB Parent Body: High Resolution Ar-40-Ar-39 Ages on Plagioclase Separates from Silicate Inclusions of IAB Meteorites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, N.; Renne, P. R.

    2004-12-01

    The processes that led to the assembly of primitive inclusions in a once molten metal matrix as represented by IAB meteorites have not yet been fully understood [1]. Ar-Ar dating of the inclusions provides important information about the thermal history of the IAB parent body [e.g., 2, 3], but the analysis of bulk inclusions, the standard procedure in the past, is often impaired by excess 40Ar and redistribution or loss of K and/or Ar during the history of the meteoriod and in the reactor. To minimize these problems, we prepared from silicate inclusions of four IABs pure plagioclase separates of different grain sizes and quality grades. On these we performed high resolution stepwise Ar-40-Ar-39 dating. Preliminary ages for the different separates of the inclusions are, in Ma, 4540(11) to 4459(12) for Caddo County, 4500(20) to 4380(30) for Landes, 4440(50) to 4340(30) for Ocotillo, and 4480(40) to 4200(30) and 4430(30) to 4300(30) for CDC2 and CDC1, respectively. The age ranges might reflect the residence time of each inclusion in the K-Ar blocking temperature range (ca. 600 K), and is narrowest for Caddo County, being also the oldest inclusion studied by us. Assuming that IABs resulted from a collision of a molten metal body with a chondritic planetesimal [4], Caddo County could represent a surface sample explaining the early and fast cooling, whereas the other samples might have been buried deeper within the IAB body, subject to prolonged residence at elevated temperatures. If IABs formed in impact metal melt pools peppered with chondritic host material [5] the different cooling ages, and age ranges recorded in each inclusion could reflect residence times in a certain metal melt pool, which indirectly would translate into pool sizes and the energies released by the previous impacts. Also, there may have been more than one IAB parent body. Whatever process led to the formation of IAB meteorites was active already very early in the history of the solar system, in

  14. Botulinum toxin alleviates dysphagia of patients with inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrey, Aleksi; Airas, Laura; Jokela, Manu; Pulkkinen, Jaakko

    2017-09-15

    Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a disabling and undertreated symptom that often occurs in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (s-IBM). In this study, we examined the effect of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) injections to the cricopharyngeus muscle (CPM) of patients with s-IBM and dysphagia. A single-center retrospective study involving 40 biopsy-proven s-IBM-patients treated in the District of Southwest Finland from 2000 to 2013. The incidence of dysphagia, rate of aspirations, rate of aspiration pneumonias and treatment results of dysphagia were analyzed. Patients treated for dysphagia were evaluated before and after surgery by video-fluoroscopy and/or using a questionnaire. Twenty-five of the 40 s-IBM patients (62.5%) experienced dysphagia. BoNT-A was injected a median of 2 times (range 1-7) in 12 patients with dysphagia. Before the injections 7 patients reported aspiration, none afterwards. The corresponding figures for aspiration pneumonia were 3 and 0. All of these patients had normal swallowing function 12months (median, range 2-60) after the last injection. BoNT-A injections to the CPM alleviate the dysphagia of s-IBM patients reversibly and appear to reduce the rate of aspiration effectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Packaging protein drugs as bacterial inclusion bodies for therapeutic applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Villaverde Antonio

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract A growing number of insights on the biology of bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs have revealed intriguing utilities of these protein particles. Since they combine mechanical stability and protein functionality, IBs have been already exploited in biocatalysis and explored for bottom-up topographical modification in tissue engineering. Being fully biocompatible and with tuneable bio-physical properties, IBs are currently emerging as agents for protein delivery into mammalian cells in protein-replacement cell therapies. So far, IBs formed by chaperones (heat shock protein 70, Hsp70, enzymes (catalase and dihydrofolate reductase, grow factors (leukemia inhibitory factor, LIF and structural proteins (the cytoskeleton keratin 14 have been shown to rescue exposed cells from a spectrum of stresses and restore cell functions in absence of cytotoxicity. The natural penetrability of IBs into mammalian cells (reaching both cytoplasm and nucleus empowers them as an unexpected platform for the controlled delivery of essentially any therapeutic polypeptide. Production of protein drugs by biopharma has been traditionally challenged by IB formation. However, a time might have arrived in which recombinant bacteria are to be engineered for the controlled packaging of therapeutic proteins as nanoparticulate materials (nanopills, for their extra- or intra-cellular release in medicine and cosmetics.

  16. Mutant LRRK2 Toxicity in Neurons Depends on LRRK2 Levels and Synuclein But Not Kinase Activity or Inclusion Bodies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skibinski, Gaia; Nakamura, Ken; Cookson, Mark R.

    2014-01-01

    By combining experimental neuron models and mathematical tools, we developed a “systems” approach to deconvolve cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration underlying the most common known cause of Parkinson's disease (PD), mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2). Neurons ectopically expressing mutant LRRK2 formed inclusion bodies (IBs), retracted neurites, accumulated synuclein, and died prematurely, recapitulating key features of PD. Degeneration was predicted from the levels of diffuse mutant LRRK2 that each neuron contained, but IB formation was neither necessary nor sufficient for death. Genetic or pharmacological blockade of its kinase activity destabilized LRRK2 and lowered its levels enough to account for the moderate reduction in LRRK2 toxicity that ensued. By contrast, targeting synuclein, including neurons made from PD patient-derived induced pluripotent cells, dramatically reduced LRRK2-dependent neurodegeneration and LRRK2 levels. These findings suggest that LRRK2 levels are more important than kinase activity per se in predicting toxicity and implicate synuclein as a major mediator of LRRK2-induced neurodegeneration. PMID:24403142

  17. Body-self unity and self-esteem in patients with rheumatic diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bode, Christina; van der Heij, Anouk; Taal, Erik; van de Laar, Mart A F J

    2010-12-01

    Perceptions and evaluations of the own body are important sources of self-esteem. Having a rheumatic disease challenges maintenance of positive self-esteem due to consequences of the disease such as unfavorable sensations as pain and limited (physical) functioning. We expect that a positive experience of the own body in spite of a rheumatic disease (body-self harmony) will be associated with higher levels of self-esteem and that experiencing the body as unworthy part of the own person or as disabler for own strivings (body-self alienation) will result in lower levels of self-esteem. For this explorative study, the body experience questionnaire (BEQ) measuring body-self unity was developed and piloted. One hundred sixty-eight patients visiting the outpatient rheumatology clinic of the Medisch Spectrum Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, completed a questionnaire on touchscreen computers to measure body-self unity (BEQ), illness cognitions (illness cognition questionnaire), pain intensity, functional limitations (health assessment questionnaire disability index), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) and demographics. To analyze predictors of self-esteem, hierarchical regression analyses were employed. The BEQ revealed a two-factor structure with good reliability (subscale harmony, four items, Cronbach's α = 0.76; subscale alienation, six items, Cronbach's α = 0.84). The final model of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that self-esteem can be predicted by the illness cognitions helplessness and acceptance, by harmony and most strongly by alienation from the body. R(2) of the final model was 0.50. The relationship between functional limitations and self-esteem was totally mediated by the psychological constructs body-self unity and illness cognitions. This explorative study showed the importance of the unity of body and self for self-esteem in patients with a rheumatic disease.

  18. On the reconstruction of inclusions in a heat conductive body from dynamical boundary data over a finite time interval

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ikehata, Masaru; Kawashita, Mishio

    2010-01-01

    The enclosure method was originally introduced for inverse problems concerning non-destructive evaluation governed by elliptic equations. It was developed as one of the useful approaches in inverse problems and applied for various equations. In this paper, an application of the enclosure method to an inverse initial boundary value problem for a parabolic equation with a discontinuous coefficient is given. A simple method to extract the depth of unknown inclusions in a heat conductive body from a single set of the temperature and heat flux on the boundary observed over a finite time interval is introduced. Other related results with infinitely many data are also reported. One of them gives the minimum radius of the open ball centred at a given point that contains the inclusions. The formula for the minimum radius is newly discovered

  19. Expression, characterization of a novel nitrilase PpL19 from Pseudomonas psychrotolerans with S-selectivity toward mandelonitrile present in active inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Huihui; Gao, Wenyuan; Wang, Hualei; Wei, Dongzhi

    2016-03-01

    To identify a novel nitrilase with S-selectivity toward mandelonitrile that can produce (S)-mandelic acid in one step. A novel nitrilase PpL19 from Pseudomonas psychrotolerans L19 was discovered by genome mining. It showed S-selectivity with an enantiomeric excess of 52.7 % when used to hydrolyse (R, S)-mandelonitrile. No byproduct was observed. PpL19 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and formed inclusion bodies that were active toward mandelonitrile and stable across a broad range of temperature and pH. In addition, PpL19 hydrolysed nitriles with diverse structures; arylacetonitriles were the optimal substrates. Homology modelling and docking studies of both enantiomers of mandelonitrile in the active site of nitrilase PpL19 shed light on the enantioselectivity. A novel nitrilase PpL19 from P. psychrotolerans L19 was mined and distinguished from other nitrilases as it was expressed as an active inclusion body and showed S-selectivity toward mandelonitrile.

  20. Half body irradiation of malignant diseases in childhood

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gocheva, L.

    2000-01-01

    The possibilities of modern medicine make the prognosis of children with malignant diseases more optimistic, compared to adult patients. At the present stage the favourable outcome of pediatric oncological diseases varies within the limits of 50 - 80 %. Despite the good treatment results after optimal complex treatment, the rest of the ill children represent a serious therapeutical problem. The achieved good local tumor control after performed radiotherapy represents a potential for its application as a systemic therapy in patients with advanced or resistant to chemotherapy tumours. The radiobiological bases of the half body irradiation as a systemic therapy in pediatric oncology and as one of the main forms of large field irradiation are considered. The important clinical investigations have been discussed. Half body irradiation can be considered as a valuable alternative of chemotherapy and as a complementary systemic treatment in the case of advanced malignant diseases in children's age. (author)

  1. Development of a rapid high-efficiency scalable process for acetylated Sus scrofa cationic trypsin production from Escherichia coli inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Mingzhi; Wu, Feilin; Xu, Ping

    2015-12-01

    Trypsin is one of the most important enzymatic tools in proteomics and biopharmaceutical studies. Here, we describe the complete recombinant expression and purification from a trypsinogen expression vector construct. The Sus scrofa cationic trypsin gene with a propeptide sequence was optimized according to Escherichia coli codon-usage bias and chemically synthesized. The gene was inserted into pET-11c plasmid to yield an expression vector. Using high-density E. coli fed-batch fermentation, trypsinogen was expressed in inclusion bodies at 1.47 g/L. The inclusion body was refolded with a high yield of 36%. The purified trypsinogen was then activated to produce trypsin. To address stability problems, the trypsin thus produced was acetylated. The final product was generated upon gel filtration. The final yield of acetylated trypsin was 182 mg/L from a 5-L fermenter. Our acetylated trypsin product demonstrated higher BAEE activity (30,100 BAEE unit/mg) than a commercial product (9500 BAEE unit/mg, Promega). It also demonstrated resistance to autolysis. This is the first report of production of acetylated recombinant trypsin that is stable and suitable for scale-up. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Anti-aggregatory effect of cyclodextrins in the refolding process of recombinant growth hormones from Escherichia coli inclusion bodies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bajorunaite, Egle; Cirkovas, Andrejus; Radzevicius, Kostas

    2009-01-01

    Cyclodextrins with different ring size and ring substituents were tested for recombinant mink and porcine growth hormones aggregation suppression in the refolding process from Escherichia coli inclusion bodies. Methyl-β-cyclodextrin and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin show a positive effect...... on the aggregation suppression of both proteins. The influence of different methyl-β-cyclodextrin and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin concentrations on the renaturation yield of both growth hormones was investigated. Moreover, methyl-β-cyclodextrin and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin suppress not only folding...

  3. Case report of Lewy body disease mimicking Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a 44-year-old man.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saint-Aubert, Laure; Pariente, Jérémie; Dumas, Herve; Payoux, Pierre; Brandel, Jean-Philippe; Puel, Michèle; Vital, Anne; Guedj, Eric; Lesage, Suzanne; Peoc'h, Katell; Brefel Courbon, Christine; Ory Magne, Fabienne

    2016-07-30

    Few patients are reported with dementia with Lewy bodies before fifty years-old, which may partly reflect the difficulty of accurate diagnosis in young population. We report the case of a 44-year-old male with pathologically confirmed sporadic dementia with Lewy bodies, who did not fulfil the revised clinical criteria for this disease. We document this atypical case with clinical and cognitive evaluation, imaging, biochemistry, genetics and pathology investigations. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was first suspected in this patient with no previous medical history, who developed acute and rapid cognitive impairment, L-dopa-non-responsive parkinsonism, and delusion. Positive 14-3-3 protein was initially detected in cerebrospinal fluid and until the late stages of the disease. Severe atrophy with no diffusion hypersignal was found on structural MRI as well as an extensive hypometabolism on (18)F-FDG-PET, in comparison to age-matched healthy volunteers. Genetic investigation found no alpha-synuclein gene mutation. The patient died within 5 years, and post-mortem examination found numerous Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites consistent with pure Lewy body disease. This comprehensively described case illustrates that dementia with Lewy bodies can occur in young patients with atypical clinical presentation. Biochemistry and neuroimaging investigations can sometimes be insufficient to allow accurate diagnostic. More specific markers to support such diagnosis are needed.

  4. Effects of Inclusion Levels of Wheat Bran and Body Weight on Ileal and Fecal Digestibility in Growing Pigs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Q.; Su, Y. B.; Li, D. F.; Liu, L.; Huang, C. F.; Zhu, Z. P.; Lai, C. H.

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded inclusions of wheat bran (0%, 9.65%, 48.25% wheat bran) and two growth stages (from 32.5 to 47.2 kg and 59.4 to 78.7 kg, respectively) on the apparent ileal digestibility (AID), apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and hindgut fermentation of nutrients and energy in growing pigs. Six light pigs (initial body weight [BW] 32.5±2.1 kg) and six heavy pigs (initial BW 59.4±3.2 kg) were surgically prepared with a T-cannula in the distal ileum. A difference method was used to calculate the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran by means of comparison with a basal diet consisting of corn-soybean meal (0% wheat bran). Two additional diets were formulated by replacing 9.65% and 48.25% wheat bran by the basal diet, respectively. Each group of pigs was allotted to a 6×3 Youden square design, and pigs were fed to three experimental diets during three 11-d periods. Hindgut fermentation values were calculated as the differences between ATTD and AID values. For the wheat bran diets, the AID and ATTD of dry matter (DM), ash, organic matter (OM), carbohydrates (CHO), gross energy (GE), and digestible energy (DE) decreased with increasing inclusion levels of wheat bran (pdigestibility of wheat bran in 9.65% inclusion level due to the coefficient of variation (CV) of the nutrient and energy digestibility being higher at 9.65% compared to 48.25% inclusion level of wheat bran. Digestible energy content of wheat bran at 48.25% inclusion level (4.8 and 6.7 MJ/kg of DM, respectively) fermented by hindgut was significantly higher (pdigestibility of some nutrients in pigs, while it positively affects the DE fermentation in the hindgut. PMID:25925062

  5. An Overview and Online Registry of Microvillus Inclusion Disease Patients and their MYO5B Mutations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Velde, K. Joeri; Dhekne, Herschel S.; Swertz, Morris A.; Sirigu, Serena; Ropars, Virginie; Vinke, Petra C.; Rengaw, Trebor; van den Akker, Peter C.; Rings, Edmond H. H. M.; Houdusse, Anne; van Ijzendoorn, Sven C. D.

    2013-01-01

    Microvillus inclusion disease (MVID) is one of the most severe congenital intestinal disorders and is characterized by neonatal secretory diarrhea and the inability to absorb nutrients from the intestinal lumen. MVID is associated with patient-, family-, and ancestry-unique mutations in the MYO5B

  6. Sporadic inclusion body myositis: pilot study on the effects of a home exercise program on muscle function, histopathology and inflammatory reaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnardottir, Snjolaug; Alexanderson, Helene; Lundberg, Ingrid E; Borg, Kristian

    2003-01-01

    To evaluate the safety and effect of a home training program on muscle function in 7 patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis. The patients performed exercise 5 days a week over a 12-week period. Safety was assessed by clinical examination, repeated muscle biopsies and serum levels of creatine kinase. Muscle strength was evaluated by clinical examination, dynamic dynamometer and by a functional index in myositis. Strength was not significantly improved after the exercise, however none of the patients deteriorated concerning muscle function. The histopathology was unchanged and there were no signs of increased muscle inflammation or of expression of cytokines and adhesion molecules in the muscle biopsies. Creatine kinase levels were unchanged. A significant decrease was found in the areas that were positively stained for EN-4 (a marker for endothelial cells) in the muscle biopsies after training. The home exercise program was considered as not harmful to the muscles regarding muscle inflammation and function. Exercise may prevent loss of muscle strength due to disease and/or inactivity.

  7. Diversity ? Inclusion: Promoting Integration in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tienda, Marta

    2013-01-01

    I argue that enrollment of a diverse student body is but a pragmatic first step toward the broader social goal of inclusion and ask whether motives for campus diversification are aligned with pedagogic goals. I address this question by focusing on inclusion, namely, organizational strategies and practices that promote meaningful social and…

  8. Functional connectivity in cortical regions in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenny, Eva R; Blamire, Andrew M; Firbank, Michael J; O'Brien, John T

    2012-02-01

    Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal were measured to investigate connectivity between key brain regions hypothesized to be differentially affected in dementia with Lewy bodies compared with Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls. These included connections of the hippocampus, because of its role in learning, and parietal and occipital areas involved in memory, attention and visual processing. Connectivity was investigated in 47 subjects aged 60 years and over: 15 subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies, 16 subjects with Alzheimer's disease and 16 control subjects. Subjects were scanned using a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging system. The mean blood oxygenation level-dependent signal time series was extracted from seed regions in the hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and primary visual cortex and correlated with all other brain voxels to determine functional connectivity. Both subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease showed greater connectivity than control subjects. Compared with controls, the dementia with Lewy bodies group had greater connectivity between the right posterior cingulate cortex and other brain areas. In dementia with Lewy bodies, there were no significant differences in hippocampal connectivity compared with controls, but in Alzheimer's disease left hippocampal connectivity was greater compared with controls. There were no significant differences between groups for precuneus or primary visual cortex connectivity. No seed regions showed significantly less connectivity in subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies or Alzheimer's disease compared with controls. We found greater connectivity with the posterior cingulate in dementia with Lewy bodies and with the hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease. Consistent with the known relative preservation of memory in dementia with Lewy bodies compared with Alzheimer

  9. The Role of Nuclear Bodies in Gene Expression and Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morimoto, Marie; Boerkoel, Cornelius F.

    2013-01-01

    This review summarizes the current understanding of the role of nuclear bodies in regulating gene expression. The compartmentalization of cellular processes, such as ribosome biogenesis, RNA processing, cellular response to stress, transcription, modification and assembly of spliceosomal snRNPs, histone gene synthesis and nuclear RNA retention, has significant implications for gene regulation. These functional nuclear domains include the nucleolus, nuclear speckle, nuclear stress body, transcription factory, Cajal body, Gemini of Cajal body, histone locus body and paraspeckle. We herein review the roles of nuclear bodies in regulating gene expression and their relation to human health and disease. PMID:24040563

  10. Comparative study to develop a single method for retrieving wide class of recombinant proteins from classical inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padhiar, Arshad Ahmed; Chanda, Warren; Joseph, Thomson Patrick; Guo, Xuefang; Liu, Min; Sha, Li; Batool, Samana; Gao, Yifan; Zhang, Wei; Huang, Min; Zhong, Mintao

    2018-03-01

    The formation of inclusion bodies (IBs) is considered as an Achilles heel of heterologous protein expression in bacterial hosts. Wide array of techniques has been developed to recover biochemically challenging proteins from IBs. However, acquiring the active state even from the same protein family was found to be an independent of single established method. Here, we present a new strategy for the recovery of wide sub-classes of recombinant protein from harsh IBs. We found that numerous methods and their combinations for reducing IB formation and producing soluble proteins were not effective, if the inclusion bodies were harsh in nature. On the other hand, different practices with mild solubilization buffers were able to solubilize IBs completely, yet the recovery of active protein requires large screening of refolding buffers. With the integration of previously reported mild solubilization techniques, we proposed an improved method, which comprised low sarkosyl concentration, ranging from 0.05 to 0.1% coupled with slow freezing (- 1 °C/min) and fast thaw (room temperature), resulting in greater solubility and the integrity of solubilized protein. Dilution method was employed with single buffer to restore activity for every sub-class of recombinant protein. Results showed that the recovered protein's activity was significantly higher compared with traditional solubilization/refolding approach. Solubilization of IBs by the described method was proved milder in nature, which restored native-like conformation of proteins within IBs.

  11. Disease: H01505 [KEGG MEDICUS

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available H01505 Inclusion body myositis Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most frequent ...imachkie MM, Barohn RJ ... TITLE ... Inclusion body myositis. ... JOURNAL ... Neurol Clin 32:629-46, vii (2014) DO

  12. How Can We Make Computing Lessons More Inclusive?

    OpenAIRE

    Shelton , Chris

    2017-01-01

    Part 3: Computer Science Education and Its Future Focus and Development; International audience; Whilst there is a substantial body of research that shows how Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) can support schools and teachers to make their classrooms more inclusive, there is a need for more evidence describing how best to ensure that the teaching of computing itself is inclusive. This paper reports on a literature review of inclusive education in school computing lessons. It ...

  13. Approaches to daily body condition management in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawada, Terue

    2016-11-01

    To clarify the characteristics of sub-groups of patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease having similar approaches to daily body condition management. Prior literature has shed light on the experience of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and revealed that these patients engage in many activities and try different things in their daily lives to regulate and manage their body condition. The research so far has all been qualitative, comprising mostly interviews, and no quantitative studies have been performed. In this study, cluster analysis was used to show that subgroups of patients with similar characteristics undertake similar approaches to body condition management. Descriptive, correlational study. Invitations to participate in the survey were extended to patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cluster analysis was performed on the basis of questionnaire scores relating to nine different categories of daily body condition management actions. The characteristics of the body condition management approaches, in each subgroup, were investigated using analysis of variance and multiple comparisons. The cluster analysis produced six subgroups, each defined by the effort expended as part of their body condition management. The subgroups also differed depending on patient age and disease severity. Body condition management approaches taken by patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are overall, comprehensive approaches. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were subgrouped based on their engagement in body conditioning. Relationships between the subgroups and the engagement in body conditioning, age and shortness of breath severity were observed. The care of patient support should be comprehensive and depend on their age and the duration of the disease. In addition, it should be long term and recognise that the patients are living their own respective lives. Such considerations and

  14. Inclusions and inhomogeneities under stress

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Nabarro, FRN

    1996-02-01

    Full Text Available Some general theorems, new and old, concerning the behaviour of elastic inclusions and inhomogeneities in bodies without or with external stress, are assembled. The principal new result is that arbitrary external tractions cannot influence the shape...

  15. Purification and characterization of naturally occurring HIV-1 (South African subtype C) protease mutants from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maseko, Sibusiso B; Natarajan, Satheesh; Sharma, Vikas; Bhattacharyya, Neelakshi; Govender, Thavendran; Sayed, Yasien; Maguire, Glenn E M; Lin, Johnson; Kruger, Hendrik G

    2016-06-01

    Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in sub-Saharan Africa represent about 56% of global infections. Many studies have targeted HIV-1 protease for the development of drugs against AIDS. Recombinant HIV-1 protease is used to screen new drugs from synthetic compounds or natural substances. Along with the wild type (C-SA) we also over-expressed and characterized two mutant forms from patients that had shown resistance to protease inhibitors. Using recombinant DNA technology, we constructed three recombinant plasmids in pGEX-6P-1 and expressed them containing a sequence encoding wild type HIV protease and two mutants (I36T↑T contains 100 amino acids and L38L↑N↑L contains 101 amino acids). These recombinant proteins were isolated from inclusion bodies by using QFF anion exchange and GST trap columns. In SDS-PAGE, we obtained these HIV proteases as single bands of approximately 11.5, 11.6 and 11.7 kDa for the wild type, I36T↑Tand L38L↑N↑L mutants, respectively. The enzyme was recovered efficiently (0.25 mg protein/L of Escherichia coli culture) and had high specific activity of 2.02, 2.20 and 1.33 μmol min(-1) mg(-1) at an optimal pH of 5 and temperature of 37 °C for the wild type, I36T↑T and L38L↑N↑L, respectively. The method employed here provides an easy and rapid purification of the HIV-1(C-SA) protease from the inclusion bodies, with high yield and high specific activities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Polymyositis and dermatomyositis: Disease spectrum and classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siba P Raychaudhuri

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Muscle inflammation and weakness are the key features of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs. In addition IIMs are frequently associated with cutaneous and pulmonary involvement. In clinical practice the three common inflammatory myopathies we come across are polymyositis (PM, dermatomyositis (DM and inclusion body myositis (IBM. The Bohan and Peter criteria combine clinical, laboratory, and pathologic features to define PM and DM. They did not recognize inclusion body myositis (IBM or other inflammatory myopathies, such as granulomatous and eosinophilic myositis. Thus the disease spectrum is wide and IIMs are a heterogeneous group of autoimmune disorders. To address these issues in this article we have discussed the currently developing newer classifications of IIMs.

  17. Body Weights in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease and the Obesity Frequency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lerman, Joseph B; Parness, Ira A; Shenoy, Rajesh U

    2017-02-15

    Obesity may associate with greater cardiovascular risk in adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) than in the general population. As ACHD often have exercise limitations, they may be uniquely predisposed to obesity. Nevertheless, obesity prevalence in ACHD, compared with the general population, has not been quantified in a large US cohort. Hence, we sought to determine the prevalence of obesity (30 ≤ body mass index obesity (body mass index ≥40), in a large cohort of ACHD, compared with matched controls. Retrospective analysis was thus performed on all ACHD seen in an academic system in 2013. CHD severity was classified as simple, complex, or unclassified, using recently published criteria. A control group without CHD was randomly generated matching for age, gender, and race/ethnicity; 1,451 ACHD met inclusion criteria; 59.5% of ACHD were overweight to morbidly obese. Compared with controls, ACHD had similar prevalence of overweight (odds ratio [OR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.89 to 1.22, p = 0.63) and obesity (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.15, p = 0.69) but lower prevalence of morbid obesity (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.34, p obese. This is the largest study of obesity in US ACHD and the highest reported obesity prevalence in ACHD to date. As obesity is associated with significant cardiovascular risk, our findings indicate a need for improved lifestyle counseling in patients with CHD of all ages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. ɑ-Synuclein strains and seeding in Parkinson's disease, incidental Lewy body disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy: similarities and differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peelaerts, W; Bousset, L; Baekelandt, V; Melki, R

    2018-04-27

    Several age-related neurodegenerative disorders are characterized by the deposition of aberrantly folded endogenous proteins. These proteins have prion-like propagation and amplification properties but so far appear nontransmissible between individuals. Because of the features they share with the prion protein, PrP, the characteristics of pathogenic protein aggregates in several progressive brain disorders, including different types of Lewy body diseases (LBDs), such as Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), have been actively investigated. Even though the pleomorphic nature of these syndromes might suggest different underlying causes, ɑ-synuclein (ɑSyn) appears to play an important role in this heterogeneous group of diseases (the synucleinopathies). An attractive hypothesis is that different types of ɑSyn protein assemblies have a unique and causative role in distinct synucleinopathies. We will discuss the recent research progress on ɑSyn assemblies involved in PD, MSA and DLB; their behavior as strains; current spreading hypotheses; their ability to seed centrally and peripherally; and their implication for disease pathogenesis.

  19. Sleep disordered breathing in a cohort of patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Della Marca, Giacomo; Sancricca, Cristina; Losurdo, Anna; Di Blasi, Chiara; De Fino, Chiara; Morosetti, Roberta; Broccolini, Aldobrando; Testani, Elisa; Scarano, Emanuele; Servidei, Serenella; Mirabella, Massimiliano

    2013-08-01

    The aims of the study were: (1) to evaluate subjective sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in patients affected by sporadic inclusion-body myositis (IBM); (2) to define the sleep and sleep-related respiratory pattern in IBM patients. Thirteen consecutive adult patients affected by definite IBM were enrolled, six women and seven men, mean age 66.2 ± 11.1 years (range: 50-80). Diagnosis was based on clinical and muscle biopsy studies. All patients underwent subjective sleep evaluation (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI and Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS), oro-pharingo-esophageal scintigraphy, pulmonary function tests, psychometric measures, anatomic evaluation of upper airways, and laboratory-based polysomnography. Findings in IBM patients were compared to those obtained from a control group of 25 healthy subjects (13 men and 12 women, mean age 61.9 ± 8.6 years). Disease duration was >10 years in all. Mean IBM severity score was 28.8 ± 5.4 (range 18-36). Dysphagia was present in 10 patients. Nine patients had PSQI scores ≥ 5; patients had higher mean PSQI score (IBM: 7.2 ± 4.7, CONTROLS: 2.76 ± 1.45, p=0.005); one patient (and no controls) had EES>9. Polysomnography showed that IBM patients, compared to controls, had lower sleep efficiency (IBM: 78.8 ± 12.0%, 94.0 ± 4.5%, p<0.001), more awakenings (IBM: 11.9 ± 11.0, CONTROLS: 5.2 ± 7.5, p=0.009) and increased nocturnal time awake (IBM: 121.2 ± 82.0 min., 46.12 ± 28.8 min., p=0.001). Seven Patients (and no controls) had polysomnographic findings consistent with sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Data suggest that sleep disruption, and in particular SDB, might be highly prevalent in IBM. Data indicate that IBM patients have poor sleep and high prevalence of SDB. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. A simple strategy for the purification of native recombinant full-length human RPL10 protein from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Larissa M; Silva, Luana R; Alves, Joseane F; Marin, Nélida; Silva, Flavio Sousa; Morganti, Ligia; Silva, Ismael D C G; Affonso, Regina

    2014-09-01

    The L10 ribosomal protein (RPL10) plays a role in the binding of the 60 S and 40 S ribosomal subunits and in mRNA translation. The evidence indicates that RPL10 also has multiple extra-ribosomal functions, including tumor suppression. Recently, the presence of RPL10 in prostate and ovarian cancers was evaluated, and it was demonstrated to be associated with autistic disorders and premature ovarian failure. In the present work, we successfully cloned and expressed full-length human RPL10 (hRPL10) protein and isolated inclusion bodies containing this protein that had formed under mild growth conditions. The culture produced 376mg of hRPL10 protein per liter of induced bacterial culture, of which 102.4mg was present in the soluble fraction, and 25.6mg was recovered at approximately 94% purity. These results were obtained using a two-step process of non-denaturing protein extraction from pelleted inclusion bodies. We studied the characteristics of this protein using circular dichroism spectroscopy and by monitoring the changes induced by the presence or absence of zinc ions using fluorescence spectrometry. The results demonstrated that the protein obtained using these non-conventional methods retained its secondary and tertiary structure. The conformational changes induced by the incorporation of zinc suggested that this protein could interact with Jun or the SH3 domain of c-yes. The results suggested that the strategy used to obtain hRPL10 is simple and could be applied to obtaining other proteins that are susceptible to degradation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Refolding in high hydrostatic pressure of recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies in Escherichia Coli; Renaturacao em altas pressoes hidrostaticas de proteinas recombinantes agregadas em corpos de inclusao produzidos em Escherichia Coli

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Balduino, Keli Nunes

    2009-07-01

    The expression of proteins as inclusion bodies in bacteria is a widely used alternative for production of recombinant protein. However, the aggregation is a problem often encountered during refolding of these proteins. High hydrostatic pressure are able to solubilise the inclusion bodies in the presence of low concentrations of denaturant reagents, encouraging refolding protein with high efficiency and reduce costs. This work aims to refolding of recombinant proteins expressed in Escherichia coli from inclusion bodies using high hydrostatic pressure. Three toxins, all featuring five or more disulfide bonds were studied: NXH8, Natterin 2 and Bothropstoxin 1. Suspensions of inclusion bodies of the three proteins were pressurized to 2000 bars for 16 hours. The buffers were optimized for refolding of the three proteins. The buffer used in the refolding of NXH8 was 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 9.0 with proportion of 1GSH: 4GSSG at a concentration of 6 mM and 2 M GdnHCl. Inclusion bodies were used in O.D. (A600nm) of 0.5. After refolding process, dialysis was performed at pH 7.0. The final yield of obtaining soluble NXH8 was 40% (28,6 mg of soluble NXH8/L of culture medium). The refolding of Bothropstoxin 1 was obtained in refolding buffer of Tris HCl 50 mM, pH 7,5 with proportion of 2 GSH: GSSG 3 and concentration of 3 mM and 1 M GdnHCl. Use with a suspension of O.D. (A600nm) of 0.5. The final yield of recovery of Bothropstoxin 1 refolded was 32% (9,2 mg of refolded Bothropstoxin 1/L of culture medium). The refolding of Natterin 2 was performed in the refolding buffer: 20 mM Tris HCl pH 9.0 at a ratio of 2 GSH: 3GSSG and concentration of 10 mM and 1 M GdnHCl and inclusion bodies O.D. (A600nm) of 6.0. The yield of Natterin 2 refolded was 20% (3,7 mg/L of culture medium). Physico-chemical and biological analysis were performed by SDS-PAGE, western blot, scanning electron microscopy, biological tests in vivo and in vitro and structural. The analysis conducted in NXH8 did not show

  2. Estudo comparativo das inclusões do alastrim e da variola vera A comparison of the inclusion bodies of alastrim and variola vera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Magarinos Torres

    1935-09-01

    Full Text Available Resulta das descripções e documentos examinados que as inclusões cytoplasmaticas da variola vera, no material humano examinado, apresentam caracteres geraes que poderão ser assim resumidos: 1. intensa coloração pela safranina nos preparados pelo methodo de Unna modificado (Fig. 42, mostrando a inclusão matiz semelhante ao dos nucleolos da mesma cellula. 2. reacção predominantemente acidophila nos preparados pela hematoxylina-eosina, traduzida pela tonalidade rosea ou vermelha de coloração (Figs. 27, 29, 30, 31 e 31. 3. frequente multiplicidade de inclusões de fórma e dimensões variadas na mesma cellula (Figs. 29 e 30, as maiores inclusões (Figs. 29 e 32, sendo menores que as grandes inclusões cytoplasmaticas solitarias do alastrim (Figs. 15, 16 e 18. É a regra, ainda, observar-se desapparecimento de qualquer estructura no cytoplasma das cellulas com inclusões em zona muito extensa, tornando-se difficil explicar tal aspecto unicamente pela retracção das inclusões no acto da fixação (Figs. 31 e 32. Quanto ás inclusões intranucleares, ellas se apresentam sob tres aspectos, dois dos quaes bem reconhecidos por Luger e Lauda (1926. Em um primeiro aspecto, o nucleo conserva, em parte, o reticulo de linina e encerra uma massa irregular (Fig. 35 ou, então, pequenas massas e granulos de dimensões variaveis (Figs. 33 e 34 constituidos por material acidophilo que ali não existe em condições normaes. A membrana nuclear tem espessura visinha do normal. Em um segundo aspecto, a inclusão occupa a totalidade do nucleoplasma (Fig. 3, apenas separado da membrana nuclear, em alguns casos (Fig. 38, por um estreito espaço claro (zona de retracção. Por vezes apresenta um aspecto homogeneo (Fig. 37; outras vezes a inclusão mostra pequenas areas chromophobas ( Fig. 38. A hyperchromatose da membrana nuclear é accentuada, tanto neste como no aspecto seguinte. No terceiro aspecto (aspecto corpuscular (Figs. 39, 40, 48 e 50, a inclus

  3. Identification of the CFTR c.1666A>G Mutation in Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy Using Next-Generation Sequencing Analysis

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    Yan Lu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM is a rare autosomal recessive adult onset muscle disease which affects one to three individuals per million worldwide. This disease is autosomal dominant and occurs in adulthood. Our previous study reported a new subtype of HIBM linked to the susceptibility locus at 7q22.1-31.1. The present study is aimed to identify the candidate gene responsible for the phenotype in HIBM pedigree. After multipoint linkage analysis, we performed targeted capture sequencing on 16 members and whole-exome sequencing (WES on 5 members. Bioinformatics filtering was performed to prioritize the candidate pathogenic gene variants, which were further genotyped by Sanger sequencing. Our results showed that the highest peak of LOD score (4.70 was on chromosome 7q22.1-31.1.We identified 2 and 22 candidates using targeted capture sequencing and WES respectively, only one of which as CFTRc.1666A>G mutation was well cosegregated with the HIBM phenotype. Using transcriptome analysis, we did not detect the differences of CFTR's mRNA expression in the proband compared with healthy members. Due to low incidence of HIBM and there is no other pedigree to assess, mutation was detected in three patients with duchenne muscular dystrophyn (DMD and five patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD. And we found that the frequency of mutation detected in DMD and LGMD patients was higher than that of being expected in normal population. We suggested that the CFTRc.1666A>G may be a candidate marker which has strong genetic linkage with the causative gene in the HIBM family.

  4. Policy Guidelines for Effective Inclusion and Reintegration of People with Chronic Diseases in the Workplace: National and European Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vlachou, Anastasia; Stavroussi, Panayiota; Roka, Olga; Vasilou, Evdokia; Papadimitriou, Dimitra; Scaratti, Chiara; Kadyrbaeva, Asel; Fheodoroff, Klemens; Brecelj, Valentina; Svestkova, Olga; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Beata; Finnvold, Jon Erik; Gruber, Sonja; Leonardi, Matilde

    2018-03-11

    The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases among the European working age population, as well as the implications for the individual and societal level, underline the need for policy guidelines targeting the effective inclusion of persons with chronic diseases in the workplace. The aim of the present paper was to explore the perspectives of European and National-level stakeholders on existing strategies for work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases, and to provide policy guidelines. A highly-structured interview protocol was distributed to 58 National level stakeholders (policy makers, professionals and employers) from seven European countries. Additionally, 20 European organizations concerned with health-related issues and employment completed an online survey. The findings reveal that employment-related challenges remain largely unaddressed. Both national and European stakeholders considered the existing legislative frameworks inadequate and appraised the co-ordination for the implementation of employment re-integration policies as ineffective. Policies targeting at work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases at European and national level should focus on consistent cooperation among all key stakeholders, awareness raising to staff and management, dissemination of effective strategies, developing research and evaluation standards and establishing monitoring systems on inclusive labour markets.

  5. Policy Guidelines for Effective Inclusion and Reintegration of People with Chronic Diseases in the Workplace: National and European Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anastasia Vlachou

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases among the European working age population, as well as the implications for the individual and societal level, underline the need for policy guidelines targeting the effective inclusion of persons with chronic diseases in the workplace. The aim of the present paper was to explore the perspectives of European and National-level stakeholders on existing strategies for work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases, and to provide policy guidelines. A highly-structured interview protocol was distributed to 58 National level stakeholders (policy makers, professionals and employers from seven European countries. Additionally, 20 European organizations concerned with health-related issues and employment completed an online survey. The findings reveal that employment-related challenges remain largely unaddressed. Both national and European stakeholders considered the existing legislative frameworks inadequate and appraised the co-ordination for the implementation of employment re-integration policies as ineffective. Policies targeting at work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases at European and national level should focus on consistent cooperation among all key stakeholders, awareness raising to staff and management, dissemination of effective strategies, developing research and evaluation standards and establishing monitoring systems on inclusive labour markets.

  6. Difference, inclusion, and mathematics education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Figueiras, Lourdes; Healy, Lulu; Skovsmose, Ole

    2016-01-01

    The round-table discussion on Difference, Inclusion and Mathematics Education was in included in the scientific programme of VI SIPEM in recognition and celebration of the emerging body of research into the challenges of building a culture of mathematics education which values and respects the di...

  7. Quality control of inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schweder Thomas

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs are key intermediates for protein production. Their quality affects the refolding yield and further purification. Recent functional and structural studies have revealed that IBs are not dead-end aggregates but undergo dynamic changes, including aggregation, refunctionalization of the protein and proteolysis. Both, aggregation of the folding intermediates and turnover of IBs are influenced by the cellular situation and a number of well-studied chaperones and proteases are included. IBs mostly contain only minor impurities and are relatively homogenous. Results IBs of α-glucosidase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae after overproduction in Escherichia coli contain a large amount of (at least 12 different major product fragments, as revealed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE. Matrix-Assisted-Laser-Desorption/Ionization-Time-Of-Flight Mass-Spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS identification showed that these fragments contain either the N- or the C-terminus of the protein, therefore indicate that these IBs are at least partially created by proteolytic action. Expression of α-glucosidase in single knockout mutants for the major proteases ClpP, Lon, OmpT and FtsH which are known to be involved in the heat shock like response to production of recombinant proteins or to the degradation of IB proteins, clpP, lon, ompT, and ftsH did not influence the fragment pattern or the composition of the IBs. The quality of the IBs was also not influenced by the sampling time, cultivation medium (complex and mineral salt medium, production strategy (shake flask, fed-batch fermentation process, production strength (T5-lac or T7 promoter, strain background (K-12 or BL21, or addition of different protease inhibitors during IB preparation. Conclusions α-glucosidase is fragmented before aggregation, but neither by proteolytic action on the IBs by the common major proteases, nor during downstream IB

  8. Impact of body mass index on adjacent segment disease after lumbar fusion for degenerative spine disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ou, Chien-Yu; Lee, Tao-Chen; Lee, Tsung-Han; Huang, Yu-Hua

    2015-04-01

    Adjacent segment disease is an important complication after fusion of degenerative lumbar spines. However, the role of body mass index (BMI) in adjacent segment disease has been addressed less. To examine the relationship between BMI and adjacent segment disease after lumbar fusion for degenerative spine diseases. For this retrospective study, we enrolled 190 patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgery for degeneration. BMI at admission was documented. Adjacent segment disease was defined by integration of the clinical presentations and radiographic criteria based on the morphology of the dural sac on magnetic resonance images. Adjacent segment disease was identified in 13 of the 190 patients, accounting for 6.8%. The interval between surgery and diagnosis as adjacent segment disease ranged from 21 to 66 months. Five of the 13 patients required subsequent surgical intervention for clinically relevant adjacent segment disease. In the logistic regression model, BMI was a risk factor for adjacent segment disease after lumbar fusion for degenerative spine diseases (odds ratio, 1.68; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-2.21; P disease rate by 67.6%. The patients were subdivided into 2 groups based on BMI, and up to 11.9% of patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m were diagnosed as having adjacent segment disease at the last follow-up. BMI is a risk factor for adjacent segment disease in patients undergoing lumbar fusion for degenerative spine diseases. Because BMI is clinically objective and modifiable, controlling body weight before or after surgery may provide opportunities to reduce the rate of adjacent segment disease and to improve the outcome of fusion surgery.

  9. Inclusion bodies as potential vehicles for recombinant protein delivery into epithelial cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background We present the potential of inclusion bodies (IBs) as a protein delivery method for polymeric filamentous proteins. We used as cell factory a strain of E. coli, a conventional host organism, and keratin 14 (K14) as an example of a complex protein. Keratins build the intermediate filament cytoskeleton of all epithelial cells. In order to build filaments, monomeric K14 needs first to dimerize with its binding partner (keratin 5, K5), which is then followed by heterodimer assembly into filaments. Results K14 IBs were electroporated into SW13 cells grown in culture together with a “reporter” plasmid containing EYFP labeled keratin 5 (K5) cDNA. As SW13 cells do not normally express keratins, and keratin filaments are built exclusively of keratin heterodimers (i.e. K5/K14), the short filamentous structures we obtained in this study can only be the result of: a) if both IBs and plasmid DNA are transfected simultaneously into the cell(s); b) once inside the cells, K14 protein is being released from IBs; c) released K14 is functional, able to form heterodimers with EYFP-K5. Conclusions Soluble IBs may be also developed for complex cytoskeletal proteins and used as nanoparticles for their delivery into epithelial cells. PMID:22624805

  10. [An old "new" disease: body dysmorphic disorder (dysmorphophobia)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szabó, Pál

    2010-10-31

    Body dysmorphic disorder causes significant suffering and serious impairment in psychosocial functions. However, this disease with dangerous risks is scarcely mentioned in the Hungarian medical literature. The objective of the author is to give a detailed review about this almost unknown, but relatively common disorder. The serious disorder of body perception is in the centre of symptoms, leading to social isolation, anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive phenomena. The disorder often remains unrecognized because of the lack of insight of disease. Comorbidity with affective disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, alcoholism and substance use disorders is common. The life quality of affected patients is bad, the risk of suicide or violence is high. Biological, psychological and sociocultural factors play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of the disorder. Imaging techniques and neuropsychological measures revealed changes characteristic for the disease. Childhood abuse and neglect, appearance-related critical remarks, stressors and the impact of media are also supposed to have role in the development of the disorder. The point prevalence is 0.7-2.5% in the general population, however, in special groups such as in tertiary students, psychiatric, dermatological and cosmetic surgery patients the prevalence rates may be much higher. Typically, the disease begins in early adolescence, and it persists and deteriorates without treatment, showing a chronic course. By means of pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy long-during improvement or full recovery can be achieved within a relatively short period of time.

  11. Managing Lafora body disease with vagal nerve stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikati, Mohamad A; Tabbara, Faysal

    2017-03-01

    A 17-year-old female, of consanguineous parents, presented with a history of seizures and cognitive decline since the age of 12 years. She had absence, focal dyscognitive, generalized myoclonic, and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, all of which were drug resistant. The diagnosis of Lafora body disease was made based on a compatible clinical, EEG, seizure semiology picture and a disease-causing homozygous mutation in the EPM2A gene. A vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) was inserted and well tolerated with a steady decrease and then stabilization in seizure frequency during the six months following insertion (months 1-6). At follow-up, at 12 months after VNS insertion, there was a persistent improvement. Seizure frequency during months 7-12, compared to pre-VNS, was documented as follows: the absence seizures observed by the family had decreased from four episodes per month to 0 per month, the focal dyscognitive seizures from 300 episodes per month to 90 per month, the generalized myoclonic seizures from 90 clusters per month to eight per month, and the generalized tonic-clonic seizures from 30 episodes per month to 1.5 per month on average. To our knowledge, this is the second case reported in the literature showing efficacy of VNS in the management of seizures in Lafora body disease.

  12. Mechanisms of body weight fluctuations in Parkinson’s disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea eKistner

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Typical body weight changes are known to occur in PD. Weight loss has been reported in early stages as well as in advanced disease and malnutrition may worsen the clinical state of the patient. On the other hand an increasing number of patients show weight gain under dopamine replacement therapy or after surgery. These weight changes are multifactorial and involve changes in energy expenditure, perturbation of homeostatic control, and eating behavior modulated by dopaminergic treatment. Comprehension of the different mechanisms contributing to body weight is a prerequisite for the management of body weight and nutritional state of an individual PD patient. This review summarizes the present knowledge and highlights the necessity of evaluation of body weight and related factors, as eating behavior, energy intake and expenditure in PD.

  13. A Novel Human Body Area Network for Brain Diseases Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Kai; Xu, Tianlang

    2016-10-01

    Development of wireless sensor and mobile communication technology provide an unprecedented opportunity for realizing smart and interactive healthcare systems. Designing such systems aims to remotely monitor the health and diagnose the diseases for users. In this paper, we design a novel human body area network for brain diseases analysis, which is named BABDA. Considering the brain is one of the most complex organs in the human body, the BABDA system provides four function modules to ensure the high quality of the analysis result, which includes initial data collection, data correction, data transmission and comprehensive data analysis. The performance evaluation conducted in a realistic environment with several criteria shows the availability and practicability of the BABDA system.

  14. Changes in body composition in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rutten, Erica P A; Calverley, Peter M A; Casaburi, Richard

    2013-01-01

    The follow-up of the ECLIPSE study, a prospective longitudinal study to identify and define parameters that predict disease progression over 3 years in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allows the examination of the effect of body composition changes on COPD-related outcomes....

  15. Peripheral neuropathy in type A Niemann-Pick disease. A morphological study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landrieu, P; Saïd, G

    1984-01-01

    A black boy had a severe neuropathic form of Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) with a pronounced sphingomyelinase deficiency in the fibroblasts. Nerve conduction velocities were diminished, and a nerve biopsy was performed. Isolated fibers showed segmental demyelination and numerous dense bodies in the Schwann cells (SC). Electron microscopy revealed two categories of inclusions: the first was made up of lysosomal inclusions usually described in NPD. The second comprised myelin inclusions--sometimes still connected to the original myelin sheath--indicating severe myelinopathy. Both myelin debris and NPD inclusions were found in axoplasms and probably came from SC cytoplasm through axolemma lesions. NPD is a unique example of myelinopathy due to sphingomyelinase deficiency.

  16. The effect of elevated body mass index on ischemic heart disease risk

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordestgaard, Børge G; Palmer, Tom M; Benn, Marianne

    2012-01-01

    Adiposity, assessed as elevated body mass index (BMI), is associated with increased risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD); however, whether this is causal is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that positive observational associations between BMI and IHD are causal.......Adiposity, assessed as elevated body mass index (BMI), is associated with increased risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD); however, whether this is causal is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that positive observational associations between BMI and IHD are causal....

  17. Adult polyglucosan body disease: Natural History and Key Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mochel, Fanny; Schiffmann, Raphael; Steenweg, Marjan E.; Akman, Hasan O.; Wallace, Mary; Sedel, Frédéric; Laforêt, Pascal; Levy, Richard; Powers, J. Michael; Demeret, Sophie; Maisonobe, Thierry; Froissart, Roseline; Da Nobrega, Bruno Barcelos; Fogel, Brent L.; Natowicz, Marvin R.; Lubetzki, Catherine; Durr, Alexandra; Brice, Alexis; Rosenmann, Hanna; Barash, Varda; Kakhlon, Or; Gomori, J. Moshe; van der Knaap, Marjo S.; Lossos, Alexander

    2012-01-01

    Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) is an autosomal recessive leukodystrophy characterized by neurogenic bladder, progressive spastic gait, and peripheral neuropathy. Polyglucosan bodies accumulate in the central and peripheral nervous systems and are often associated with glycogen branching

  18. C. elegans model identifies genetic modifiers of alpha-synuclein inclusion formation during aging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tjakko J van Ham

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Inclusions in the brain containing alpha-synuclein are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, but how these inclusions are formed and how this links to disease is poorly understood. We have developed a C. elegans model that makes it possible to monitor, in living animals, the formation of alpha-synuclein inclusions. In worms of old age, inclusions contain aggregated alpha- synuclein, resembling a critical pathological feature. We used genome-wide RNA interference to identify processes involved in inclusion formation, and identified 80 genes that, when knocked down, resulted in a premature increase in the number of inclusions. Quality control and vesicle-trafficking genes expressed in the ER/Golgi complex and vesicular compartments were overrepresented, indicating a specific role for these processes in alpha-synuclein inclusion formation. Suppressors include aging-associated genes, such as sir-2.1/SIRT1 and lagr-1/LASS2. Altogether, our data suggest a link between alpha-synuclein inclusion formation and cellular aging, likely through an endomembrane-related mechanism. The processes and genes identified here present a framework for further study of the disease mechanism and provide candidate susceptibility genes and drug targets for Parkinson's disease and other alpha-synuclein related disorders.

  19. Hsp40 gene therapy exerts therapeutic effects on polyglutamine disease mice via a non-cell autonomous mechanism.

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    H Akiko Popiel

    Full Text Available The polyglutamine (polyQ diseases such as Huntington's disease (HD, are neurodegenerative diseases caused by proteins with an expanded polyQ stretch, which misfold and aggregate, and eventually accumulate as inclusion bodies within neurons. Molecules that inhibit polyQ protein misfolding/aggregation, such as Polyglutamine Binding Peptide 1 (QBP1 and molecular chaperones, have been shown to exert therapeutic effects in vivo by crossing of transgenic animals. Towards developing a therapy using these aggregation inhibitors, we here investigated the effect of viral vector-mediated gene therapy using QBP1 and molecular chaperones on polyQ disease model mice. We found that injection of adeno-associated virus type 5 (AAV5 expressing QBP1 or Hsp40 into the striatum both dramatically suppresses inclusion body formation in the HD mouse R6/2. AAV5-Hsp40 injection also ameliorated the motor impairment and extended the lifespan of R6/2 mice. Unexpectedly, we found even in virus non-infected cells that AAV5-Hsp40 appreciably suppresses inclusion body formation, suggesting a non-cell autonomous therapeutic effect. We further show that Hsp40 inhibits secretion of the polyQ protein from cultured cells, implying that it inhibits the recently suggested cell-cell transmission of the polyQ protein. Our results demonstrate for the first time the therapeutic effect of Hsp40 gene therapy on the neurological phenotypes of polyQ disease mice.

  20. Effects of Inclusion Levels of Wheat Bran and Body Weight on Ileal and Fecal Digestibility in Growing Pigs

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    Q. Huang

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded inclusions of wheat bran (0%, 9.65%, 48.25% wheat bran and two growth stages (from 32.5 to 47.2 kg and 59.4 to 78.7 kg, respectively on the apparent ileal digestibility (AID, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD and hindgut fermentation of nutrients and energy in growing pigs. Six light pigs (initial body weight [BW] 32.5±2.1 kg and six heavy pigs (initial BW 59.4±3.2 kg were surgically prepared with a T-cannula in the distal ileum. A difference method was used to calculate the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran by means of comparison with a basal diet consisting of corn-soybean meal (0% wheat bran. Two additional diets were formulated by replacing 9.65% and 48.25% wheat bran by the basal diet, respectively. Each group of pigs was allotted to a 6×3 Youden square design, and pigs were fed to three experimental diets during three 11-d periods. Hindgut fermentation values were calculated as the differences between ATTD and AID values. For the wheat bran diets, the AID and ATTD of dry matter (DM, ash, organic matter (OM, carbohydrates (CHO, gross energy (GE, and digestible energy (DE decreased with increasing inclusion levels of wheat bran (p<0.05. While only AID of CHO and ATTD of DM, ash, OM, CHO, GE, and DE content differed (p<0.05 when considering the BW effect. For the wheat bran ingredient, there was a wider variation effect (p<0.01 on the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran in 9.65% inclusion level due to the coefficient of variation (CV of the nutrient and energy digestibility being higher at 9.65% compared to 48.25% inclusion level of wheat bran. Digestible energy content of wheat bran at 48.25% inclusion level (4.8 and 6.7 MJ/kg of DM, respectively fermented by hindgut was significantly higher (p<0.05 than that in 9.65% wheat bran inclusion level (2.56 and 2.12 MJ/kg of DM, respectively, which was also affected (p<0.05 by two growth stages

  1. Carotid body (Thermoreceptors, sympathetic neural activation, and cardiometabolic disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Iturriaga

    Full Text Available The carotid body (CB is the main peripheral chemoreceptor that senses the arterial PO2, PCO2 and pH. In response to hypoxemia, hypercapnia and acidosis, carotid chemosensory discharge elicits reflex respiratory, autonomic and cardiovascular adjustments. The classical construct considers the CB as the main peripheral oxygen sensor, triggering reflex physiological responses to acute hypoxemia and facilitating the ventilatory acclimation to chronic hypoxemia at high altitude. However, a growing body of experimental evidence supports the novel concept that an abnormally enhanced CB chemosensory input to the brainstem contributes to overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, and consequent pathology. Indeed, the CB has been implicated in several diseases associated with increases in central sympathetic outflow. These include hypertension, heart failure, sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and metabolic syndrome. Indeed, ablation of the CB has been proposed for the treatment of severe and resistant hypertension in humans. In this review, we will analyze and discuss new evidence supporting an important role for the CB chemoreceptor in the progression of autonomic and cardiorespiratory alterations induced by heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and metabolic syndrome.

  2. Silicate Inclusions in IAB Irons: Correlations Between Metal Composition and Inclusion Properties, and Inferences for Their Origin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benedix, G. K.; McCoy, T. J.; Keil, K.

    1995-09-01

    IAB irons are the largest group of iron meteorites, exhibit a large range of siderophile element concentrations in their metal, and commonly contain silicate inclusions with roughly chondritic composition. They are closely related to IIICD irons [1,2] and their inclusions resemble winonaites [3]. It has been suggested that IAB's and IIICD's formed in individual impact melt pools [4,2] on a common parent body. However, it has also been suggested that fractional crystallization [5,6] of a S-saturated core could produce the observed siderophile element trends. Metal composition is correlated with silicate inclusion mineralogy in IIICD's [1], indicating reactions between solid silicates and the metallic magma in a core. These trends observed in IIICD's differ from those in IAB's, suggesting different parent bodies. A bi-modal grouping, based primarily on mineralogy and mineral abundances, was suggested for IAB inclusions [7]. However, recent recoveries of several new silicate-bearing IAB's, along with the emergence of new ideas on their origins, prompted a comprehensive study to document more fully the range of inclusions within IAB irons, to examine possible correlations between the compositions of the metallic host and the silicate inclusions, and to elucidate the origin of IAB irons. We are studying troilite-graphite-silicate inclusions in 24 IAB irons with Ni concentrations ranging from 6.6-25.0%. These include Odessa and Copiapo types [7], newly recovered meteorites (e.g., Lueders [8]) and meteorites with extreme Ni contents (e.g., Jenny's Creek, 6.8%; San Cristobal, 25.0% [9]). The inclusions exhibit a range of textures from recrystallized to partial melts (e.g., Caddo County [10]). Rigorous classification [7] is hampered by heterogeneities between group meteorites, between different samples of distinct meteorites, and within individual inclusions. While intergroup heterogeneities make comparisons between the suite of IAB's somewhat difficult, some general trends

  3. Emerging and reemerging diseases of avian wildlife

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pello, Susan J.; Olsen, Glenn H.

    2013-01-01

    Of the many important avian wildlife diseases, aspergillosis, West Nile virus, avipoxvirus, Wellfleet Bay virus, avian influenza, and inclusion body disease of cranes are covered in this article. Wellfleet Bay virus, first identified in 2010, is considered an emerging disease. Avian influenza and West Nile virus have recently been in the public eye because of their zoonotic potential and links to wildlife. Several diseases labeled as reemerging are included because of recent outbreaks or, more importantly, recent research in areas such as genomics, which shed light on the mechanisms whereby these adaptable, persistent pathogens continue to spread and thrive.

  4. Dysplastic hepatocytes develop nuclear inclusions in a mouse model of viral hepatitis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Priyanka Thakur

    Full Text Available Viral hepatitis resulting in chronic liver disease is an important clinical challenge and insight into the cellular processes that drive pathogenesis will be critical in order to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic options. Nuclear inclusions in viral and non-viral hepatitis are well documented and have diagnostic significance in some disease contexts. However, the origins and functional consequences of these nuclear inclusions remain elusive. To date the clinical observation of nuclear inclusions in viral and non-viral hepatitis has not been explored at depth in murine models of liver disease. Herein, we report that in a transgenic model of hepatitis B surface antigen mediated hepatitis, murine hepatocytes exhibit nuclear inclusions. Cells bearing nuclear inclusions were more likely to express markers of cell proliferation. We also established a correlation between these inclusions and oxidative stress. N-acetyl cysteine treatment effectively reduced oxidative stress levels, relieved endoplasmic reticulum (ER stress, and the number of nuclear inclusions we observed in the transgenic mice. Our results suggest that the presence of nuclear inclusions in hepatocytes correlates with oxidative stress and cellular proliferation in a model of antigen mediated hepatitis.

  5. Mortality and Causes of Death in Patients with Sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis: Survey Study Based on the Clinical Experience of Specialists in Australia, Europe and the USA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Price, Mark A.; Barghout, Victoria; Benveniste, Olivier; Christopher-Stine, Lisa; Corbett, Alastair; de Visser, Marianne; Hilton-Jones, David; Kissel, John T.; Lloyd, Thomas E.; Lundberg, Ingrid E.; Mastaglia, Francis; Mozaffar, Tahseen; Needham, Merrilee; Schmidt, Jens; Sivakumar, Kumaraswamy; DeMuro, Carla; Tseng, Brian S.

    2016-01-01

    There is a paucity of data on mortality and causes of death (CoDs) in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM), a rare, progressive, degenerative, inflammatory myopathy that typically affects those aged over 50 years. Based on patient records and expertise of clinical specialists, this

  6. Estimating the burden of disease attributable to excess body weight ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Monte Carlo simulation-modelling techniques were used for the uncertainty analysis. ... Deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from ischaemic heart disease, ... lasting change in the determinants and impact of excess body weight.

  7. The P2 of Wheat yellow mosaic virus rearranges the endoplasmic reticulum and recruits other viral proteins into replication-associated inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Liying; Andika, Ida Bagus; Shen, Jiangfeng; Yang, Di; Chen, Jianping

    2014-06-01

    Viruses commonly modify host endomembranes to facilitate biological processes in the viral life cycle. Infection by viruses belonging to the genus Bymovirus (family Potyviridae) has long been known to induce the formation of large membranous inclusion bodies in host cells, but their assembly and biological roles are still unclear. Immunoelectron microscopy of cells infected with the bymovirus Wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV) showed that P1, P2 and P3 are the major viral protein constituents of the membranous inclusions, whereas NIa-Pro (nuclear inclusion-a protease) and VPg (viral protein genome-linked) are probable minor components. P1, P2 and P3 associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), but only P2 was able to rearrange ER and form large aggregate structures. Bioinformatic analyses and chemical experiments showed that P2 is an integral membrane protein and depends on the active secretory pathway to form aggregates of ER membranes. In planta and in vitro assays demonstrated that P2 interacts with P1, P3, NIa-Pro or VPg and recruits these proteins into the aggregates. In vivo RNA labelling using WYMV-infected wheat protoplasts showed that the synthesis of viral RNAs occurs in the P2-associated inclusions. Our results suggest that P2 plays a major role in the formation of membranous compartments that house the genomic replication of WYMV. © 2013 BSPP AND JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD.

  8. Changes in Body Compositions and Basal Metabolic Rates during Treatment of Graves’ Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Joo Kim

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. Because thyroid hormone is an important determinant of body weight and basal metabolic rate, we investigated the changes in the basal metabolic rate and body composition sequentially after treatment for Graves’ disease. Methods. A prospective cohort study was performed with six women newly diagnosed with Graves’ disease. During a 52-week treatment of methimazole, body composition, resting respiratory expenditure (REE, and handgrip strength were measured consecutively. Results. After methimazole treatment, body weight was initially increased (0–8 weeks, subsequently plateaued (8–24 weeks, and gradually decreased in the later period (24–52 weeks despite the decreased food intake. The measured REE was 40% higher than the predicted REE at baseline, and it gradually decreased after treatment. REE positively correlated with thyroid hormone levels, peripheral deiodinase activity, and thyroid’s secretory capacity. Body compositional analyses showed that the fat mass increased during an earlier period (4–12 weeks, while the lean mass increased significantly during the later period (26–52 weeks. Consistent with the lean mass changes, muscle strength also significantly increased during the later period. Conclusions. Treatment of Graves’ disease increased body weight and fat mass transiently with decreased REE. However, long-term compositional changes moved in a beneficial direction increasing lean mass and reinforcing muscle strength, following decreasing fat percentages.

  9. Familial frontotemporal dementia with neuronal intranuclear inclusions is not a polyglutamine expansion disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neal Scott J

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many cases of frontotemporal dementia (FTD are familial, often with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. Some are due to a mutation in the tau- encoding gene, on chromosome 17, and show an accumulation of abnormal tau in brain tissue (FTDP-17T. Most of the remaining familial cases do not exhibit tau pathology, but display neuropathology similar to patients with dementia and motor neuron disease, characterized by the presence of ubiquitin-immunoreactive (ub-ir, dystrophic neurites and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions in the neocortex and hippocampus (FTLD-U. Recently, we described a subset of patients with familial FTD with autopsy-proven FTLD-U pathology and with the additional finding of ub-ir neuronal intranuclear inclusions (NII. NII are a characteristic feature of several other neurodegenerative conditions for which the genetic basis is abnormal expansion of a polyglutamine-encoding trinucleotide repeat region. The genetic basis of familial FTLD-U is currently not known, however the presence of NII suggests that a subset of cases may represent a polyglutamine expansion disease. Methods We studied DNA and post mortem brain tissue from 5 affected members of 4 different families with NII and one affected individual with familial FTLD-U without NII. Patient DNA was screened for CAA/CAG trinucleotide expansion in a set of candidate genes identified using a genome-wide computational approach. Genes containing CAA/CAG trinucleotide repeats encoding at least five glutamines were examined (n = 63, including the nine genes currently known to be associated with human disease. CAA/CAG tract sizes were compared with published normal values (where available and with those of healthy controls (n = 94. High-resolution agarose gel electrophoresis was used to measure allele size (number of CAA/CAG repeats. For any alleles estimated to be equal to or larger than the maximum measured in the control population, the CAA/CAG tract

  10. An inducible mouse model for microvillus inclusion disease reveals a role for myosin Vb in apical and basolateral trafficking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schneeberger, Kerstin; Vogel, Georg F; Teunissen, Hans; van Ommen, Domenique D; Begthel, Harry; El Bouazzaoui, Layla; van Vugt, Anke H M; Beekman, Jeffrey M; Klumperman, Judith; Müller, Thomas; Janecke, Andreas; Gerner, Patrick; Huber, Lukas A; Hess, Michael W; Clevers, Hans; van Es, Johan H; Nieuwenhuis, Edward E S; Middendorp, Sabine

    2015-01-01

    Microvillus inclusion disease (MVID) is a rare intestinal enteropathy with an onset within a few days to months after birth, resulting in persistent watery diarrhea. Mutations in the myosin Vb gene (MYO5B) have been identified in the majority of MVID patients. However, the exact pathophysiology of

  11. Inclusive breakup of three-fragment weakly bound nuclei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, B.V.; Frederico, T.; Hussein, M.S.

    2017-01-01

    The inclusive breakup of three-fragment projectiles is discussed within a four-body spectator model. Both the elastic breakup and the non-elastic breakup are obtained in a unified framework. Originally developed in the 80's for two-fragment projectiles such as the deuteron, in this paper the theory is successfully generalized to three-fragment projectiles. The expression obtained for the inclusive cross section allows the extraction of the incomplete fusion cross section, and accordingly generalizes the surrogate method to cases such as (t, p) and (t, n) reactions. It is found that two-fragment correlations inside the projectile affect in a conspicuous way the elastic breakup cross section. The inclusive non-elastic breakup cross section is calculated and is found to contain the contribution of a three-body absorption term that is also strongly influenced by the two-fragment correlations. This latter cross section contains the so-called incomplete fusion where more than one compound nuclei are formed. Our theory describes both stable weakly bound three-fragment projectiles and unstable ones such as the Borromean nuclei.

  12. Inclusive breakup of three-fragment weakly bound nuclei

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carlson, B.V.; Frederico, T. [Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, DCTA, 12.228-900 São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Hussein, M.S., E-mail: hussein@if.usp.br [Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, DCTA, 12.228-900 São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Instituto de Estudos Avançados, Universidade de São Paulo, C.P. 72012, 05508-970 São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, C.P. 66318, 05314-970 São Paulo, SP (Brazil)

    2017-04-10

    The inclusive breakup of three-fragment projectiles is discussed within a four-body spectator model. Both the elastic breakup and the non-elastic breakup are obtained in a unified framework. Originally developed in the 80's for two-fragment projectiles such as the deuteron, in this paper the theory is successfully generalized to three-fragment projectiles. The expression obtained for the inclusive cross section allows the extraction of the incomplete fusion cross section, and accordingly generalizes the surrogate method to cases such as (t, p) and (t, n) reactions. It is found that two-fragment correlations inside the projectile affect in a conspicuous way the elastic breakup cross section. The inclusive non-elastic breakup cross section is calculated and is found to contain the contribution of a three-body absorption term that is also strongly influenced by the two-fragment correlations. This latter cross section contains the so-called incomplete fusion where more than one compound nuclei are formed. Our theory describes both stable weakly bound three-fragment projectiles and unstable ones such as the Borromean nuclei.

  13. Anaesthetic management of a patient with microvillus inclusion disease for intestinal transplantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldman, Luis J; Santamaría, Manuel López; Gámez, Manuel

    2002-03-01

    We report the anaesthetic management of a 3-year-old-child with microvillus inclusion disease undergoing isolated small bowel transplantation. He required long-term total parenteral nutrition which was complicated with numerous episodes of catheter related sepsis. This resulted in thrombosis of the major blood vessels which critically restricted vascular access available for intravenous nutrition, becoming a life-threatening condition for the patient. Haemodynamic, respiratory parameters and urinary output were well preserved throughout the procedure. Besides a transitory increase in potassium following graft revascularization, biochemical changes were small. Anaesthetic management included comprehensive preoperative assessment, central venous angiography to depict accessibility of central and peripheral veins, assurance of additional vascular access through the intraoperative catheterization of the left renal vein, perioperative epidural analgesia and preservation of splanchnic perfusion to ensure implant viability.

  14. Body mass index was associated with upstaging and upgrading in patients with low-risk prostate cancer who met the inclusion criteria for active surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Cobelli, Ottavio; Terracciano, Daniela; Tagliabue, Elena; Raimondi, Sara; Galasso, Giacomo; Cioffi, Antonio; Cordima, Giovanni; Musi, Gennaro; Damiano, Rocco; Cantiello, Francesco; Detti, Serena; Victor Matei, Deliu; Bottero, Danilo; Renne, Giuseppe; Ferro, Matteo

    2015-05-01

    Obesity is associated with an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer (PCa). The effect of body mass index (BMI) as a predictor of progression in men with low-risk PCa has been only poorly assessed. In this study, we evaluated the association of BMI with progression in patients with low-risk PCa who met the inclusion criteria for the active surveillance (AS) protocol. We assessed 311 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy and were eligible for AS according to the following criteria: clinical stage T2a or less, prostate-specific antigen level pT2) and upgraded (Gleason score ≥ 7; primary Gleason pattern 4) disease. Seminal vesicle invasion, positive lymph nodes, and tumor volume ≥ 0.5 ml were also recorded. We found that high BMI was significantly associated with upgrading, upstaging, and seminal vesicle invasion, whereas it was not associated with positive lymph nodes or large tumor volume. At multivariate analysis, 1 unit increase of BMI significantly increased the risk of upgrading, upstaging, seminal vesicle invasion, and any outcome by 21%, 23%, 27%, and 20%, respectively. The differences between areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves comparing models with and without BMI were statistically significant for upgrading (P = 0.0002), upstaging (P = 0.0007), and any outcome (P = 0.0001). BMI should be a selection criterion for inclusion of patients with low-risk PCa in AS programs. Our results support the idea that obesity is associated with worse prognosis and suggest that a close AS program is an appropriate treatment option for obese subjects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Effects of exposure to thin-ideal media images on body dissatisfaction: testing the inclusion of a disclaimer versus warning label.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ata, Rheanna N; Thompson, J Kevin; Small, Brent J

    2013-09-01

    The current study was designed to determine whether the inclusion of a disclaimer (i.e., "Retouched photograph aimed at changing a person's physical appearance.") or warning (i.e., "Warning: Trying to look as thin as this model may be dangerous to your health.") added to images of thin/attractive models would affect body dissatisfaction and intent to diet in female undergraduate students (n=342). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (a) disclaimer, (b) warning, (c) model control, or (d) car control. Results revealed a significant interaction between group and time, whereby only the car control group reported a significant change (i.e., decrease) in body dissatisfaction over time. Groups did not differ on intent to diet measured at post-exposure. The results largely replicate other findings in this area and call into question advocacy efforts to label media images as a strategy to decrease women's identification with the stimuli. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Two-dimensional ultrasonography of the brain: its diagnostic usefullness in herpes simplex encephalitis and cytomegalic inclusion disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, N; Yano, S; Miyao, M; Kamoshita, S; Itoh, K

    1983-01-01

    We have used brain ultrasonography in diagnosing and following up two infants, one with herpes simplex encephalitis and the other with cytomegalic inclusion disease. It was found that this technique was very useful to observe the changes of the brain parenchyma such as cystic degeneration and periventricular calcification. Also because it is non-invasive and an easy procedure, ultrasonography can be applied even for infants in critical condition when needed.

  17. Estimating body weight and body composition of chickens by using noninvasive measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latshaw, J D; Bishop, B L

    2001-07-01

    The major objective of this research was to develop equations to estimate BW and body composition using measurements taken with inexpensive instruments. We used five groups of chickens that were created with different genetic stocks and feeding programs. Four of the five groups were from broiler genetic stock, and one was from sex-linked heavy layers. The goal was to sample six males from each group when the group weight was 1.20, 1.75, and 2.30 kg. Each male was weighed and measured for back length, pelvis width, circumference, breast width, keel length, and abdominal skinfold thickness. A cloth tape measure, calipers, and skinfold calipers were used for measurement. Chickens were scanned for total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC) before being euthanized and frozen. Six females were selected at weights similar to those for males and were measured in the same way. Each whole chicken was ground, and a portion of ground material of each was used to measure water, fat, ash, and energy content. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate BW from body measurements. The best single measurement was pelvis width, with an R2 = 0.67. Inclusion of three body measurements in an equation resulted in R2 = 0.78 and the following equation: BW (g) = -930.0 + 68.5 (breast, cm) + 48.5 (circumference, cm) + 62.8 (pelvis, cm). The best single measurement to estimate body fat was abdominal skinfold thickness, expressed as a natural logarithm. Inclusion of weight and skinfold thickness resulted in R2 = 0.63 for body fat according to the following equation: fat (%) = 24.83 + 6.75 (skinfold, ln cm) - 3.87 (wt, kg). Inclusion of the result of TOBEC and the effect of sex improved the R2 to 0.78 for body fat. Regression analysis was used to develop additional equations, based on fat, to estimate water and energy contents of the body. The body water content (%) = 72.1 - 0.60 (body fat, %), and body energy (kcal/g) = 1.097 + 0.080 (body fat, %). The results of the present study

  18. α-Synuclein oligomers and clinical implications for Parkinson disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalia, Lorraine V.; Kalia, Suneil K.; McLean, Pamela J.; Lozano, Andres M.; Lang, Anthony E.

    2012-01-01

    Protein aggregation within the central nervous system has been recognized as a defining feature of neurodegenerative diseases since the early 20th century. Since that time, there has been a growing list of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson disease, which are characterized by inclusions of specific pathogenic proteins. This has led to the long-held dogma that these characteristic protein inclusions, which are composed of large insoluble fibrillar protein aggregates and visible by light microscopy, are responsible for cell death in these diseases. However, the correlation between protein inclusion formation and cytotoxicity is inconsistent suggesting another form of the pathogenic proteins may be contributing to neurodegeneration. There is emerging evidence implicating soluble oligomers, smaller protein aggregates not detectable by conventional microscopy, as potential culprits in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. The protein α-synuclein is well recognized to contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease and is the major component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. However, α-synuclein also forms oligomeric species with certain conformations being toxic to cells. The mechanisms by which these α-synuclein oligomers cause cell death are being actively investigated as they may provide new strategies for diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson disease and related disorders. Here we review the possible role of α-synuclein oligomers in cell death in Parkinson disease and discuss the potential clinical implications. PMID:23225525

  19. Reptured Epidermal Inclusion Cyst in the Axilla: A Case Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Kyu Soon; Kim, Hak Hee; Shin, Hee Jeong; Yang, Hye Rin; Sohn, Jeong Hee; Kwon, Gui Young; Gong, Gyung Yub

    2006-01-01

    Epidermal inclusion cysts, the most common type of simple epithelial cyst, are typically well-encapsulated, subepidermal and mobile nodules. They may occur anywhere, but are mostly found on the scalp, face, neck, trunk, and back. Less than 10% of epidermal inclusion cysts occur on the extremities, and even fewer are found on the palms, soles, and breasts. If epidermal inclusion cysts rupture, foreign body reaction, granulomatous reaction or abscess formation could follow. We described here the sonographic findings of ruptured epidermal inclusion cyst of the right axilla in a 33-year-old woman who presented with a palpable axillary mass forming an inflammatory abscess

  20. Purification and refolding of anti-T-antigen single chain antibodies (scFvs) expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuasa, Noriyuki; Koyama, Tsubasa; Fujita-Yamaguchi, Yoko

    2014-02-01

    T-antigen (Galβ1-3GalNAcα-1-Ser/Thr) is an oncofetal antigen that is commonly expressed as a carbohydrate determinant in many adenocarcinomas. Since it is associated with tumor progression and metastasis, production of recombinant antibodies specific for T-antigen could lead to the development of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. Previously, we isolated and characterized 11 anti-T-antigen phage clones from a phage library displaying human single-chain antibodies (scFvs) and purified one scFv protein, 1G11. More recently, we purified and characterized 1E8 scFv protein using a Drosophila S2 expression system. In the current study, four anti-T-antigen scFv genes belonging to Groups 1-4 were purified from inclusion bodies expressed in Escherichia coli cells. Inclusion bodies isolated from E. coli cells were denatured in 3.5 M Gdn-HCl. Solubilized His-tagged scFv proteins were purified using Ni(2+)-Sepharose column chromatography in the presence of 3.5 M Gdn-HCl. Purified scFv proteins were refolded according to a previously published method of step-wise dialysis. Two anti-T-antigen scFv proteins, 1E6 and 1E8 that belong to Groups 1 and 2, respectively, were produced in sufficient amounts, thus allowing further characterization of their binding activity with T-antigen. Specificity and affinity constants determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR), respectively, provided evidence that both 1E8 and 1E6 scFv proteins are T-antigen specific and suggested that 1E8 scFv protein has a higher affinity for T-antigen than 1E6 scFv protein.

  1. Monistic dualism and the body electric: An ontology of disease, patient and clinician for person-centred healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pârvan, Alexandra

    2016-08-01

    Ontology is involved in medical care, because what both doctors and patients think the disease, the patient and the doctor are affects the giving and receiving of care, and hence the definition of medical care as profession. Going back to ancient philosophical views of disease as 'bounded entity' or as 'relation' (still echoed in contemporary theories and mindsets), I propose a way to think ontologically about disease that places it in necessary connection with the patient as person. Drawing on Augustine's views on disease, bodily integrity, and the human person as mind-body unit, I speak of 'monistic dualism' as the view where the unit and health of the person is continuously and personally generated by the mind's attention to and action on the body, whether the body is impaired or not. Monistic dualism is identified as the ontological position of both patients who are (or can become) healthy within illness and clinicians who are 'healthy' in their profession. It is what guides both to create what their body is in a personal state of integrity or health. This 'metaphysical body' is termed 'the body electric' in patients, and I argue that clinicians can attend properly to the diseased body by attending to patients' metaphysical body. As clinicians offer metaphysical care to themselves, employing monistic dualism to create their metaphysical body, they should not deny it to patients. Ontology cannot be part of medical care without making metaphysical care a requirement. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  2. Antisense Oligonucleotides Promote Exon Inclusion and Correct the Common c.-32-13T>G GAA Splicing Variant in Pompe Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik van der Wal

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The most common variant causing Pompe disease is c.-32-13T>G (IVS1 in the acid α-glucosidase (GAA gene, which weakens the splice acceptor of GAA exon 2 and induces partial and complete exon 2 skipping. It also allows a low level of leaky wild-type splicing, leading to a childhood/adult phenotype. We hypothesized that cis-acting splicing motifs may exist that could be blocked using antisense oligonucleotides (AONs to promote exon inclusion. To test this, a screen was performed in patient-derived primary fibroblasts using a tiling array of U7 small nuclear RNA (snRNA-based AONs. This resulted in the identification of a splicing regulatory element in GAA intron 1. We designed phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer-based AONs to this element, and these promoted exon 2 inclusion and enhanced GAA enzyme activity to levels above the disease threshold. These results indicate that the common IVS1 GAA splicing variant in Pompe disease is subject to negative regulation, and inhibition of a splicing regulatory element using AONs is able to restore canonical GAA splicing and endogenous GAA enzyme activity.

  3. Emerging and reemerging diseases of avian wildlife.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pello, Susan J; Olsen, Glenn H

    2013-05-01

    Of the many important avian wildlife diseases, aspergillosis, West Nile virus, avipoxvirus, Wellfleet Bay virus, avian influenza, and inclusion body disease of cranes are covered in this article. Wellfleet Bay virus, first identified in 2010, is considered an emerging disease. Avian influenza and West Nile virus have recently been in the public eye because of their zoonotic potential and links to wildlife. Several diseases labeled as reemerging are included because of recent outbreaks or, more importantly, recent research in areas such as genomics, which shed light on the mechanisms whereby these adaptable, persistent pathogens continue to spread and thrive. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Diagnostic significance of mamillary body atrophy on MR images in chronic Wernicke disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charness, M.E.; De La Paz, R.L.; Diamond, I.; Norman, D.

    1986-01-01

    In chronic Wernicke disease (CWD) characteristic mammillary body degeneration is seen at autopsy, but the entity is infrequently diagnosed clinically before death. Only 5%-20% of patients exhibit the classic triad of encephalopathy, ataxia, and ophthalmoplegia. Patients with CWD and control subjects were studied with proton MR imaging (GE Signa, 1.5T) using 3-mm-thick T1-weighted spin-echo (25/600) images in coronal and sagittal planes through the mammillary bodies. Elliptical volumes were calculated. In nine patients, aged 47-79 years, with classic CWD, a significant reduction in mammillary body volumes was seen, compared to findings in 15 age-matched healthy subjects and five patients with Alzheimer disease. Mean volumes (mm/sup 3/ [SD]) were 21.3 (5.8) for patients with CWD, 34.3 (3.0) for patients with Alzheimer disease, and 55.2 (4.0) for healthy subjects. MR imaging and autopsy measurements of normal subjects were similar (autopsy volume: 58.2 [5.3])

  5. Isolation of Mallory bodies and an attempt to demonstrate cell mediated immunity to Mallory body isolate in patients with alcoholic liver disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gluud, C; Hardt, F; Aldershvile, J

    1981-01-01

    Mallory bodies were isolated from necropsy livers from patients with alcoholic hepatitis with and without cirrhosis with a Ficoll viscosity barrier. The purity of Mallory bodies in the isolate varied between 70 and 90%, estimated by counting Mallory bodies and non-Mallory body structures in haema...... was found between controls and patients with alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic steatosis, alcoholic cirrhosis and miscellaneous liver diseases.......Mallory bodies were isolated from necropsy livers from patients with alcoholic hepatitis with and without cirrhosis with a Ficoll viscosity barrier. The purity of Mallory bodies in the isolate varied between 70 and 90%, estimated by counting Mallory bodies and non-Mallory body structures...

  6. Continuous processing of recombinant proteins: Integration of inclusion body solubilization and refolding using simulated moving bed size exclusion chromatography with buffer recycling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wellhoefer, Martin; Sprinzl, Wolfgang; Hahn, Rainer; Jungbauer, Alois

    2013-12-06

    An integrated process which combines continuous inclusion body dissolution with NaOH and continuous matrix-assisted refolding based on closed-loop simulated moving bed size exclusion chromatography was designed and experimentally evaluated at laboratory scale. Inclusion bodies from N(pro) fusion pep6His and N(pro) fusion MCP1 from high cell density fermentation were continuously dissolved with NaOH, filtered and mixed with concentrated refolding buffer prior to refolding by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). This process enabled an isocratic operation of the simulated moving bed (SMB) system with a closed-loop set-up with refolding buffer as the desorbent buffer and buffer recycling by concentrating the raffinate using tangential flow filtration. With this continuous refolding process, we increased the refolding and cleavage yield of both model proteins by 10% compared to batch dilution refolding. Furthermore, more than 99% of the refolding buffer of the raffinate could be recycled which reduced the buffer consumption significantly. Based on the actual refolding data, we compared throughput, productivity, and buffer consumption between two batch dilution refolding processes - one using urea for IB dissolution, the other one using NaOH for IB dissolution - and our continuous refolding process. The higher complexity of the continuous refolding process was rewarded with higher throughput and productivity as well as significantly lower buffer consumption compared to the batch dilution refolding processes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Inclusion Body Myositis: A Case Presenting with Respiratory Failure and Autopsy Findings Leading to the Hypothesis of a Paraneoplastic Cause.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dardis, Christopher; Antezana, Ariel; Tanji, Kurenai; Maccabee, Paul J

    2017-06-23

    BACKGROUND Sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common acquired myopathy seen in adults aged over 50 years, with a prevalence estimated at between 1 and 70 per million. Weakness of the diaphragm with loss of vital capacity is almost universal in IBM. This is almost always asymptomatic. When respiratory complications occur, they are most often due to aspiration. Respiratory failure due to diaphragmatic weakness is exceptionally rare, particularly as the presenting symptom of the disease. It is not currently considered to be a paraneoplastic syndrome. CASE REPORT Our patient presented with hypercarbic respiratory failure. This is the first such reported case without signs of weakness elsewhere of which we are aware. We suspected IBM based on her history of progressive weakness and findings on electromyography. There was a delay of 5 years in obtaining biopsy for confirmation, during which she presented with recurrent episodes of respiratory failure despite using non-invasive ventilation. An autopsy revealed the presence of papillary thyroid carcinoma with spread to local lymph nodes. On the basis that these co-morbidities are unlikely to have occurred by chance (we estimate 1×10-17), we hypothesize that IBM may be a paraneoplastic condition. We acknowledge that proof would require demonstrating a pathogenic antibody. CONCLUSIONS IBM should be considered in older patients (age >45) presenting with otherwise unexplained respiratory failure. A workup for possible malignancy in this setting appears reasonable.

  8. Observations on total-body calcium in humans with bone disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spinks, T.J.; Bewley, D.K.; Ranicar, A.S.O.; Joplin, G.F.; Evans, I.M.A.; Vlotides, J.; Paolillo, M.

    1979-01-01

    Total-body calcium was measured in-vivo by neutron activation in a number of patients suffering from metabolic abnormalities which affect the skeleton. In general, less than 2% of total calcium resides in tissue other than bone allowing calcium mass to be directly related to skeletal mass. The conditions studied were (i) Paget's disease, treated with synthetic human calcitonin, (ii) osteoporosis, treated variously with calcium and phosphate supplements and 1,25 hydroxycholecalciferol, and (iii) Cushing's disease treated by pituitary implant of 198 Au or 90 Y seeds. The neutron beam used in these studies was produced by bombarding a beryllium target with deuterons accelerated in a cyclotron. The mean neutron energy was 7.5 MeV and patients received a total dose of 1 rem in about 30 s, a bilateral irradiation being employed. Measurements were made at approximately yearly intervals, the maximum period of study being about four and a half years. The precision of the method was estimated to be +-3% (SE) and a correction was applied for changes in body weight. In most patients, total calcium remained stable. However, in the Paget's patients, there was an indication of a slow upward trend while the osteoporotics (both treated and untreated) showed on average no change. Most of the patients with Cushing's disease showed no recovery of skeletal mass. Absolute calibration indicated that mean total body calcium in the Paget's patients was close to a predicted normal while that for the osteoporotic and Cushing's patients was 20-25% below this. (author)

  9. The suggestion of common cause of disease, characteristics of human body, and medical treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byung-Jun Cho

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Objectives & Methods: This suggestion was attempted to be elevated the recognition of common characteristics in disease. So, we performed to analyze the correlation of common cause of disease, characteristics of human body, and medical treatment. And the results are as follows. Results: 1. The cause of disease is consist of genetic factor, aging, habit, food of not good in health, weather, environment, deficit of the physical activity, stress and so on. 2. Generally, human has common and individual weakness. Individual weakness is appeared similar to the occurrence of volcano and lapse. 3. The correlation of disease and medical treatments is possible to explain using the quotation of the law of motion made by Isaac Newton, the great physicist. 4. When the process of the medical treatment was not progressed, the prognosis is determined by the correlation of the homeostasis(H' in human body and the homeostasis(H of disease. 5. The prognosis of disease is determined by the relationship between the energy of disease(F and medical treatment(F'. 6. The exact diagnosis is possible to predict the treatment sequence, and the facts that homeostasis in human body and disease, relationship between the energy of disease(F and medical treatment(F', action and reaction are important to determine the prognosis. 7. The careful observation of improving response and worsening action of disease becomes available for exact prognosis. Conclusion: The above described contents may be useful in clinical studies, and the concrete clinical reports about this will be made afterward.

  10. Production of verbs related to body movement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's Disease (PD).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cousins, Katheryn A Q; Ash, Sharon; Grossman, Murray

    2018-03-01

    Theories of grounded cognition propose that action verb knowledge relies in part on motor processing regions, including premotor cortex. Accordingly, impaired action verb knowledge in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) is thought to be due to motor system degeneration. Upper motor neuron disease in ALS degrades the motor cortex and related pyramidal motor system, while disease in PD is centered in the basal ganglia and can spread to frontostriatal areas that are important to language functioning. These anatomical distinctions in disease may yield subtle differences in the action verb impairment between patient groups. Here we compare verbs where the body is the agent of the action to verbs where the body is the theme. To examine the role of motor functioning in body verb production, we split patient groups into patients with high motor impairment (HMI) and those with low motor impairment (LMI), using disease-specific measures of motor impairment. Regression analyses assessed how verb production in ALS and PD was related to motor system atrophy. We find a dissociation between agent- and theme-body verbs in ALS: ALS HMI were impaired for agent body verbs but not theme verbs, compared to ALS LMI. This dissociation was not present in PD patients, who instead show depressed production for all body verbs. Although patients with cognitive impairment were excluded from this study, cognitive performance significantly correlated with the production of theme verbs in ALS and cognitive/stative verbs in PD. Finally, regression analyses related the agent-theme dissociation in ALS to grey matter atrophy of premotor cortex. These findings support the view that motor dysfunction and disease in premotor cortex contributes to the agent body verb deficit in ALS, and begin to identify some distinct characteristics of impairment for verbs in ALS and PD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Inclusion and exclusion in the globalisation of genomics; the case of rare genetic disease in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbon, Sahra; Aureliano, Waleska

    2018-04-01

    Within the context of a globalising agenda for genetic research where 'global health' is increasingly seen as necessarily informed by and having to account for genomics, the focus on rare genetic diseases is becoming prominent. Drawing from ethnographic research carried out separately by both authors in Brazil, this paper examines how an emerging focus on two different arenas of rare genetic disease, cancer genetics and a class of degenerative neurological diseases known as Ataxias, is subject to and a product of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion as this concerns participation in research and access to health care. It examines how in these different cases 'rarenesss' has been diversely situated and differently politicised and how clinicians, patients and their families grapple with the slippery boundaries between research, rights to health and the limits of care, therapy or prevention. It illustrates how attention to rare genetic disease in Brazil emerges at the intersection of a particular history of genetic research and public health infrastructure, densely complicated feedback loops between clinical care and research, patient mobilisation around the 'judicialisation' of health and recent state legislation regarding rare disease in Brazil. It highlights the relevance of local configurations in the way rare genetic disease is being made relevant for and by different communities.

  12. Characterization of the 4,6-α-glucanotransferase GTFB enzyme of Lactobacillus reuteri 121 isolated from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Yuxiang; van der Kaaij, Rachel Maria; Woortman, Albert Jan Jacob; Jin, Zhengyu; Dijkhuizen, Lubbert

    2015-06-09

    The GTFB enzyme of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri 121 is a 4,6-α-glucanotransferase of glycoside hydrolase family 70 (GH70; http://www.cazy.org ). Contrary to the glucansucrases in GH70, GTFB is unable to use sucrose as substrate, but instead converts malto-oligosaccharides and starch into isomalto-/malto- polymers that may find application as prebiotics and dietary fibers. The GTFB enzyme expresses well in Escherichia coli BL21 Star (DE3), but mostly accumulates in inclusion bodies (IBs) which generally contain wrongly folded protein and inactive enzyme. Denaturation followed by refolding, as well as ncIB preparation were used for isolation of active GTFB protein from inclusion bodies. Soluble, refolded and ncIB GTFB were compared using activity assays, secondary structure analysis by FT-IR, and product analyses by NMR, HPAEC and SEC. Expression of GTFB in E. coli yielded > 100 mg/l relatively pure and active but mostly insoluble GTFB protein in IBs, regardless of the expression conditions used. Following denaturing, refolding of GTFB protein was most efficient in double distilled H2O. Also, GTFB ncIBs were active, with approx. 10 % of hydrolysis activity compared to the soluble protein. When expressed as units of activity obtained per liter E. coli culture, the total amount of ncIB GTFB expressed possessed around 180 % hydrolysis activity and 100 % transferase activity compared to the amount of soluble GTFB enzyme obtained from one liter culture. The product profiles obtained for the three GTFB enzyme preparations were similar when analyzed by HPAEC and NMR. SEC investigation also showed that these 3 enzyme preparations yielded products with similar size distributions. FT-IR analysis revealed extended β-sheet formation in ncIB GTFB providing an explanation at the molecular level for reduced GTFB activity in ncIBs. The thermostability of ncIB GTFB was relatively high compared to the soluble and refolded GTFB. In view of their relatively high yield

  13. Wholistic and Ethical: Social Inclusion with Indigenous Peoples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathleen E. Absolon

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper begins with a poem and is inclusive of my voice as Anishinaabekwe (Ojibway woman and is authored from my spirit, heart, mind and body. The idea of social inclusion and Indigenous peoples leave more to the imagination and vision than what is the reality and actuality in Canada. This article begins with my location followed with skepticism and hope. Skepticism deals with the exclusion of Indigenous peoples since colonial contact and the subsequent challenges and impacts. Hope begins to affirm the possibilities, strengths and Indigenous knowledge that guides wholistic cultural frameworks and ethics of social inclusion. A wholistic cultural framework is presented; guided by seven sacred teachings and from each element thoughts for consideration are guided by Indigenous values and principles. From each element this paper presents a wholistic and ethical perspective in approaching social inclusion and Indigenous peoples.

  14. α-Synuclein pathology in the cranial and spinal nerves in Lewy body disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Keiko; Mori, Fumiaki; Tanji, Kunikazu; Miki, Yasuo; Toyoshima, Yasuko; Kakita, Akiyoshi; Takahashi, Hitoshi; Yamada, Masahito; Wakabayashi, Koichi

    2016-06-01

    Accumulation of phosphorylated α-synuclein in neurons and glial cells is a histological hallmark of Lewy body disease (LBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Recently, filamentous aggregations of phosphorylated α-synuclein have been reported in the cytoplasm of Schwann cells, but not in axons, in the peripheral nervous system in MSA, mainly in the cranial and spinal nerve roots. Here we conducted an immunohistochemical investigation of the cranial and spinal nerves and dorsal root ganglia of patients with LBD. Lewy axons were found in the oculomotor, trigeminal and glossopharyngeal-vagus nerves, but not in the hypoglossal nerve. The glossopharyngeal-vagus nerves were most frequently affected, with involvement in all of 20 subjects. In the spinal nerve roots, Lewy axons were found in all of the cases examined. Lewy axons in the anterior nerves were more frequent and numerous in the thoracic and sacral segments than in the cervical and lumbar segments. On the other hand, axonal lesions in the posterior spinal nerve roots appeared to increase along a cervical-to-sacral gradient. Although Schwann cell cytoplasmic inclusions were found in the spinal nerves, they were only minimal. In the dorsal root ganglia, axonal lesions were seldom evident. These findings indicate that α-synuclein pathology in the peripheral nerves is axonal-predominant in LBD, whereas it is restricted to glial cells in MSA. © 2015 Japanese Society of Neuropathology.

  15. In vivo neutron activation analysis: body composition studies in health and disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellis, K.J.; Cohn, S.H.

    1984-01-01

    In vivo analysis of body elements by neutron activation is an important tool in medical research. It has provided a direct quantitative measure of body composition of human beings in vivo. Basic physiological differences related to age, sex, race, and body size have been assessed by this noninvasive technique. The diagnosis and management of patients with various metabolic disorders and diseases has also been demonstrated. Two major facilities at Brookhaven are being utilized exclusively for in vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNAA) of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, nitrogen, hydrogen, and potassium. These elements serve as the basis for a four compartment model of body composition: protein, water, mineral ash, and fat. Variations in these compartments are demonstrated in clinical research programs investigating obesity, anorexia, cancer, renal failure, osteoporosis, and normal aging. IVNAA continues to provide a unique approach to the evaluation of clinical diagnosis, efficacy of therapeutic regimens, and monitoring of the aging process. Classical balance studies usually require the patient to be admitted to a hospital for extended periods of confinement. IVNAA, however, allows for clinical management of the patient on an out-patient basis, an important aspect for treatment of chronic diseases. 25 references, 3 figures, 5 tables

  16. In vivo neutron activation analysis: body composition studies in health and disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ellis, K.J.; Cohn, S.H.

    1984-01-01

    In vivo analysis of body elements by neutron activation is an important tool in medical research. It has provided a direct quantitative measure of body composition of human beings in vivo. Basic physiological differences related to age, sex, race, and body size have been assessed by this noninvasive technique. The diagnosis and management of patients with various metabolic disorders and diseases has also been demonstrated. Two major facilities at Brookhaven are being utilized exclusively for in vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNAA) of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, nitrogen, hydrogen, and potassium. These elements serve as the basis for a four compartment model of body composition: protein, water, mineral ash, and fat. Variations in these compartments are demonstrated in clinical research programs investigating obesity, anorexia, cancer, renal failure, osteoporosis, and normal aging. IVNAA continues to provide a unique approach to the evaluation of clinical diagnosis, efficacy of therapeutic regimens, and monitoring of the aging process. Classical balance studies usually require the patient to be admitted to a hospital for extended periods of confinement. IVNAA, however, allows for clinical management of the patient on an out-patient basis, an important aspect for treatment of chronic diseases. 25 references, 3 figures, 5 tables.

  17. Social inclusion and inclusive education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marsela Robo

    2014-07-01

    In line with global debate on social inclusion and exclusion, the author brings the way this debate has now pervaded both the official and development policy discourse in Albania.Social inclusion is considered as one of the priorities of the current government, with poverty reduction as its main focus, which will be ensured not only through economic development. In the end, the article focuses on the role of education as a very important and useful tool for ensuring social inclusion.Social inclusion through education, in particular through vocational education, considered by the author as the only way towards sustainable development of Albanian society.

  18. Controlling inclusions through filtration in investment casting process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmad, R.; Marshall, R.I.

    2004-01-01

    A technique for the placement of a ceramic foam filter in the feeding up of investment mould was developed which proved quite efficient in removing smaller and major inclusions through various filtration modes. Contaminated old aluminum scrap was used to prepare the melt without the addition of any cleansing and covering fluxes and the main reason was to produce more and more inclusions. Vigorous stirring was also intentionally carried out to form as much oxides as possible. During present research work effective filtration was observed. No leakage through sides of the filter occurred and similarly no choking was seen during feeding of molten metal. Microstructural studies showed the maximum retention of inclusions not only on the surface of filters but also within the various channels of the main body of the filter. The microstructures taken from the filtered test pieces were free from inclusions, which showed the effectiveness and proper placement of the filter. (author)

  19. Capillary gel electrophoresis for the quantification and purity determination of recombinant proteins in inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espinosa-de la Garza, Carlos E; Perdomo-Abúndez, Francisco C; Campos-García, Víctor R; Pérez, Néstor O; Flores-Ortiz, Luis F; Medina-Rivero, Emilio

    2013-09-01

    In this work, a high-resolution CGE method for quantification and purity determination of recombinant proteins was developed, involving a single-component inclusion bodies (IBs) solubilization solution. Different recombinant proteins expressed as IBs were used to show method capabilities, using recombinant interferon-β 1b as the model protein for method validation. Method linearity was verified in the range from 0.05 to 0.40 mg/mL and a determination coefficient (r(2) ) of 0.99 was obtained. The LOQs and LODs were 0.018 and 0.006 mg/mL, respectively. RSD for protein content repeatability test was 2.29%. In addition, RSD for protein purity repeatability test was 4.24%. Method accuracy was higher than 90%. Specificity was confirmed, as the method was able to separate recombinant interferon-β 1b monomer from other aggregates and impurities. Sample content and purity was demonstrated to be stable for up to 48 h. Overall, this method is suitable for the analysis of recombinant proteins in IBs according to the attributes established on the International Conference for Harmonization guidelines. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  20. The Brainstem Pathologies of Parkinson's Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seidel, Kay; Mahlke, Josefine; Siswanto, Sonny; Krueger, Reijko; Heinsen, Helmut; Auburger, Georg; Bouzrou, Mohamed; Grinberg, Lea T.; Wicht, Helmut; Korf, Horst-Werner; den Dunnen, Wilfred; Rueb, Udo

    Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are among the human synucleinopathies, which show alpha-synuclein immunoreactive neuronal and/or glial aggregations and progressive neuronal loss in selected brain regions (eg, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, pedunculopontine

  1. Inclusion and exclusion in the globalisation of genomics; the case of rare genetic disease in Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbon, Sahra

    2018-01-01

    ABSTRACT Within the context of a globalising agenda for genetic research where ‘global health’ is increasingly seen as necessarily informed by and having to account for genomics, the focus on rare genetic diseases is becoming prominent. Drawing from ethnographic research carried out separately by both authors in Brazil, this paper examines how an emerging focus on two different arenas of rare genetic disease, cancer genetics and a class of degenerative neurological diseases known as Ataxias, is subject to and a product of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion as this concerns participation in research and access to health care. It examines how in these different cases ‘rarenesss’ has been diversely situated and differently politicised and how clinicians, patients and their families grapple with the slippery boundaries between research, rights to health and the limits of care, therapy or prevention. It illustrates how attention to rare genetic disease in Brazil emerges at the intersection of a particular history of genetic research and public health infrastructure, densely complicated feedback loops between clinical care and research, patient mobilisation around the ‘judicialisation’ of health and recent state legislation regarding rare disease in Brazil. It highlights the relevance of local configurations in the way rare genetic disease is being made relevant for and by different communities. PMID:29533091

  2. Characterization of a Fe inclusion in beryllium-matrix using auger electron spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arkusk, R.; Moreno, D.; Simca, F.; Yeheskel, O.; Utzmoni, U.

    1991-04-01

    The auger electron spectroscopy techniques was employed to investigate the nature of an inclusion that had been revealed by radiography in a beryllium body produced by the hot isostatic press technique. The investigation's are that the inclusion is composed of several different iron-beryllium intermetallic compounds (BeFe 3 , BeFe 5 , Be 7 Fe). The conclusion drawn is that iron metal impurity was imbedded in the Be powder and that interdiffusion under the process's conditions gave rise to the enlarged inclusion. (author)

  3. Body mass index and risk of autoimmune diseases

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harpsøe, Maria C; Basit, Saima; Andersson, Mikael

    2014-01-01

    .57) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (HR 2.67; 95% CI, 1.71 to 4.17). Risk of dermatitis herpetiformis increased by 14% (95% CI, 1% to 30%) per BMI unit. Conversely, risk of celiac disease and Raynaud's phenomenon decreased by 7% (95% CI, 1% to 13%) and 12% (95% CI, 4% to 19%) per BMI unit, respectively. Further......BACKGROUND: A possible aetiological link between obesity and certain autoimmune diseases (ADs) has been suggested. We investigated the associations between body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and 43 ADs. METHODS: 75,008 women participating in the Danish National Birth Cohort were followed during a median......-up, 2430 women (3.2%) developed a total of 2607 new-onset ADs. Risk of any autoimmune disease was increased in obese women (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.46) compared with normal weight women (18.5-≤25 kg/m2). Obese women (BMI≥30 kg/m2) were at increased risk of sarcoidosis (HR 3.59; 95% CI, 2.31 to 5...

  4. Random forest to differentiate dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer's disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dauwan, Meenakshi; van der Zande, Jessica J.; van Dellen, Edwin; Sommer, Iris E C; Scheltens, Philip; Lemstra, Afina W.; Stam, Cornelis J.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction The aim of this study was to build a random forest classifier to improve the diagnostic accuracy in differentiating dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to quantify the relevance of multimodal diagnostic measures, with a focus on electroencephalography

  5. Are Upper-Body Axial Symptoms a Feature of Early Parkinson’s Disease?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreau, Caroline; Baille, Guillaume; Delval, Arnaud; Tard, Céline; Perez, Thierry; Danel-Buhl, Nicolas; Seguy, David; Labreuche, Julien; Duhamel, Alain; Delliaux, Marie; Dujardin, Kathy; Defebvre, Luc

    2016-01-01

    Background Axial disorders are considered to appear late in the course of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The associated impact on quality of life (QoL) and survival and the lack of an effective treatment mean that understanding and treating axial disorders is a key challenge. However, upper-body axial disorders (namely dysarthria, swallowing and breathing disorders) have never been prospectively assessed in early-stage PD patients. Objectives To characterize upper-body axial symptoms and QoL in consecutive patients with early-stage PD. Methods We prospectively enrolled 66 consecutive patients with early-stage PD (less than 3 years of disease progression) and assessed dysarthria, dysphagia and respiratory function (relative to 36 controls) using both objective and patient-reported outcomes. Results The mean disease duration was 1.26 years and the mean UPDRS motor score was 19.4 out of 108. 74% of the patients presented slight dysarthria (primarily dysprosodia). Men appeared to be more severely affected (i.e. dysphonia). This dysfunction was strongly correlated with low swallowing speed (despite the absence of complaints about dysphagia), respiratory insufficiency and poor QoL. Videofluorography showed that oral-phase swallowing disorders affected 60% of the 31 tested patients and that pharyngeal-phase disorders affected 21%. 24% of the patients reported occasional dyspnea, which was correlated with anxiety in women but not in men. Marked diaphragmatic dysfunction was suspected in 42% of the patients (predominantly in men). Conclusion Upper body axial symptoms were frequent in men with early-stage PD, whereas women presented worst non-motor impairments. New assessment methods are required because currently available tools do not reliably detect these upper-body axial disorders. PMID:27654040

  6. COMPOSITION OF FOWLPOX VIRUS AND INCLUSION MATRIX.

    Science.gov (United States)

    RANDALL, C C; GAFFORD, L G; DARLINGTON, R W; HYDE, J

    1964-04-01

    Randall, Charles C. (University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson), Lanelle G. Gafford, Robert W. Darlington, and James M. Hyde. Composition of fowlpox virus and inclusion matrix. J. Bacteriol. 87:939-944. 1964.-Inclusion bodies of fowlpox virus infection are especially favorable starting material for the isolation of virus and inclusion matrix. Electron micrographs of viral particles and matrix indicated a high degree of purification. Density-gradient centrifugation of virus in cesium chloride and potassium tartrate was unsatisfactory because of inactivation, and clumping or disintegration. Chemical analyses of virus and matrix revealed significant amounts of lipid, protein, and deoxyribonucleic acid, but no ribonucleic acid or carbohydrate. Approximately 47% of the weight of the virus and 83% of the matrix were extractable in chloroform-methanol. The lipid partitions of the petroleum ether extracts were similar, except that the phospholipid content of the matrix was 2.2 times that of the virus. Viral particles were sensitive to diethyl ether and chloroform.

  7. The cell biology of disease: Acute promyelocytic leukemia, arsenic, and PML bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Thé, Hugues; Le Bras, Morgane; Lallemand-Breitenbach, Valérie

    2012-07-09

    Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is driven by a chromosomal translocation whose product, the PML/retinoic acid (RA) receptor α (RARA) fusion protein, affects both nuclear receptor signaling and PML body assembly. Dissection of APL pathogenesis has led to the rediscovery of PML bodies and revealed their role in cell senescence, disease pathogenesis, and responsiveness to treatment. APL is remarkable because of the fortuitous identification of two clinically effective therapies, RA and arsenic, both of which degrade PML/RARA oncoprotein and, together, cure APL. Analysis of arsenic-induced PML or PML/RARA degradation has implicated oxidative stress in the biogenesis of nuclear bodies and SUMO in their degradation.

  8. BODY COMPOSITION IN PATIENTS WITH CROHN’S DISEASE AND ULCERATIVE COLITIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivi Ribeiro BACK

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT BACKGROUND The nutritional status of individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases is directly related to the severity of the disease and is associated with poor prognosis and the deterioration of immune competence. OBJECTIVE To assess the nutritional status and the body composition of outpatients with inflammatory bowel diseases. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted with clinical and nutritional assessment of patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Patients were classified according to the clinical activity through Crohn’s Disease Activity Index and Mayo Score. Nutritional assessment consisted of anthropometric measurements of current weight, height, mid-arm circumference, triceps skinfold thickness and thickness of adductor policis muscle, with subsequent calculation of BMI, arm muscle circumference and the mid-arm muscle area (MAMA. The phase angle (PhA and lean and fat mass were obtained with the use of electrical bioimpedance. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test or Fisher exact test, ANOVA and t-test. RESULTS We evaluated 141 patients of which 54 (38.29% had Crohn’s disease and 87 (61.70% ulcerative colitis. The mean age was 43.98 (±15.68 years in Crohn’s disease and 44.28 (±16.29 years for ulcerative colitis. Most of the patients were in clinical remission of the disease (Crohn’s disease: 88.89%; ulcerative colitis: 87.36%. Regarding the nutritional classification using BMI, it was found that 48.15% of Crohn’s disease patients were eutrophic and 40.74% were overweight or obese; among patients with ulcerative colitis, 52.87% were classified as overweight or obese. When considering the triceps skinfold, it was observed in both groups a high percentage of overweight and obesity (Crohn’s disease: 75.93%; ulcerative colitis: 72.42%. Crohn’s disease patients showed the most affected nutritional status according to the nutritional variables when compared to patients with ulcerative colitis (BMI

  9. Lafora disease: epidemiology, pathophysiology and management.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Monaghan, Thomas S

    2010-07-01

    Lafora disease is a rare, fatal, autosomal recessive, progressive myoclonic epilepsy. It may also be considered as a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism because of the formation of polyglucosan inclusion bodies in neural and other tissues due to abnormalities of the proteins laforin or malin. The condition is characterized by epilepsy, myoclonus and dementia. Diagnostic findings on MRI and neurophysiological testing are not definitive and biopsy or genetic studies may be required. Therapy in Lafora disease is currently limited to symptomatic management of the epilepsy, myoclonus and intercurrent complications. With a greater understanding of the pathophysiological processes involved, there is justified hope for future therapies.

  10. Further research on the biological function of inclusion bodies of Anomala cuprea entomopoxvirus, with special reference to the effect on the insecticidal activity of a Bacillus thuringiensis formulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitsuhashi, Wataru; Asano, Shoji; Miyamoto, Kazuhisa; Wada, Sanae

    2014-01-01

    Entomopoxviruses (EVs) form two types of inclusion body: spheroids, which contain virions, and spindles, which do not. The authors tested whether the spindles from a coleopteran EV, Anomala cuprea EV (ACEV), enhanced the insecticidal activity of a commercial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) formulation and the susceptibility of scarabaeid pest species in Japan to the virus's spheroids, to assess whether ACEV inclusion bodies are potential biological control agents for pest insects. Peroral inoculation with both ACEV spindles and the Bt toxin only or the complete Bt formulation shortened the survival and increased the mortality of treated insects compared with those of insects inoculated with Bt without the spindles (8-38 h of decrease in LT50 values among assays). ACEV showed high infectivity to a major scarabaeid pest species in Japanese sugar cane fields. The results suggest that spindles or the constituent protein fusolin can be used as a coagent with Bt formulations, and that fusolin coexpression with a Bt toxin in crops might improve the insecticidal efficacy. In addition, the spheroids are potential biocontrol agents for some scarabaeid pests that are not easy to control because of their underground habitation. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

  11. Whole-Body MRI versus PET in assessment of multiple myeloma disease activity.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Shortt, Conor P

    2009-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare FDG PET; whole-body MRI; and the reference standard, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy, to determine the best imaging technique for assessment of disease activity in multiple myeloma.

  12. Intravenous immune globulin in hereditary inclusion body myopathy: a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorward Heidi

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy (HIBM is an autosomal recessive, adult onset, non-inflammatory neuromuscular disorder with no effective treatment. The causative gene, GNE, codes for UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase, which catalyzes the first two reactions in the synthesis of sialic acid. Reduced sialylation of muscle glycoproteins, such as α-dystroglycan and neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM, has been reported in HIBM. Methods We treated 4 HIBM patients with intravenous immune globulin (IVIG, in order to provide sialic acid, because IgG contains 8 μmol of sialic acid/g. IVIG was infused as a loading dose of 1 g/kg on two consecutive days followed by 3 doses of 400 mg/kg at weekly intervals. Results For all four patients, mean quadriceps strength improved from 19.0 kg at baseline to 23.2 kg (+22% directly after IVIG loading to 25.6 kg (+35% at the end of the study. Mean shoulder strength improved from 4.1 kg at baseline to 5.9 kg (+44% directly after IVIG loading to 6.0 kg (+46% at the end of the study. The composite improvement for 8 other muscle groups was 5% after the initial loading and 19% by the end of the study. Esophageal motility and lingual strength improved in the patients with abnormal barium swallows. Objective measures of functional improvement gave variable results, but the patients experienced improvements in daily activities that they considered clinically significant. Immunohistochemical staining and immunoblotting of muscle biopsies for α-dystroglycan and NCAM did not provide consistent evidence for increased sialylation after IVIG treatment. Side effects were limited to transient headaches and vomiting. Conclusion The mild benefits in muscle strength experienced by HIBM patients after IVIG treatment may be related to the provision of sialic acid supplied by IVIG. Other sources of sialic acid are being explored as treatment options for HIBM.

  13. Measuring Nurse Educators' Willingness to Adopt Inclusive Teaching Strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levey, Janet A

    The purpose of the study was to examine the characteristics and relationships of nurse educators' teaching practices, knowledge, support, and willingness to adopt inclusive teaching strategies (WillAdITS). Adopting more inclusive teaching strategies based on universal design for instruction is an innovative way for educators to reach today's diverse student body. However, the pedagogy has not diffused into nursing education. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression were used for analyzing data from 311 nurse educators in prelicensure and RN to BSN programs. The model explained 44.8 percent of the variance in WillAdITS. The best indicators for this pedagogy were knowledge of universal design for instruction, social system support for inclusive teaching strategies, multiple instructional formats, and years of teaching. Knowing factors influencing the adoption of inclusive teaching strategies can inform schools of nursing of areas needing further development in the preparation of novice to experienced educators to teach diverse learners.

  14. [Childhood body mass index and the risk of coronary heart disease in adulthood

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baker, Jennifer Lyn; Olsen, L.W.; Sørensen, Thorkild I.A.

    2008-01-01

    The severity of the long term consequences of the current childhood obesity epidemic on coronary heart disease is unknown. Therefore we investigated the association between body mass index (BMI) at ages 7-13 years and heart disease in adulthood among 276,835 Danish schoolchildren. We found...... that higher BMI during this period of childhood is associated with an increased risk of any, non-fatal and fatal heart disease in adulthood. Worldwide, as children are becoming heavier, our findings suggest that greater numbers of children are at risk of having coronary heart disease in adulthood...

  15. Possibilities of whole-body MRI for investigating musculoskeletal diseases; Moeglichkeiten der Ganzkoerper-MRT zur Diagnostik muskuloskelettaler Erkrankungen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lenk, S.; Claussen, C.D.; Schlemmer, H.P. [Klinikum der Eberhardt-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen, Abteilung fuer Diagnostische Radiologie (Germany); Fischer, S. [Universitaetsklinikum Tuebingen, Abteilung fuer Strahlentherapie (Germany); Koetter, I. [Universitaetsklinikum Tuebingen, Abteilung fuer Haematoonkologie (Germany)

    2004-09-01

    This contribution outlines possibilities and limitations of whole-body MRI for investigating musculoskeletal diseases. Benefits and drawbacks of the novel whole-body MRI technology are discussed and a possible whole-body MRI sequence protocol for musculoskeletal examinations is proposed. Muscle, joint and bone diseases are discussed in which the application of whole-body MRI may be of advantage. Particularly, polymyositis, muscledystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, spondylitis ancylosans, multiple trauma, skeletal metastases, multiple myeloma and malignant lymphoma are mentioned. Whole-body MRI opens new advantages for the examination of multifocal musculoskeletal diseases. The clinical benefit of this method for particular diseases has to be evaluated in further studies, however. (orig.) [German] Dieser Beitrag gibt eine Uebersicht ueber die Moeglichkeiten und Limitationen der Ganzkoerper-MRT fuer die Diagnostik von Erkrankungen des muskuloskelettalen Systems. Es werden die Vor- und Nachteile der Ganzkoerper-MRT eroertert und ein Sequenzprotokoll fuer die muskuloskelettale Diagnostik vorgeschlagen. Auf Muskel-, Gelenk- und Knochenerkrankungen, bei denen der Einsatz der Ganzkoerper-MRT indiziert erscheint, dabei insbesondere Polymyositis, Muskeldystrophie, rheumatoide Arthritis, Spondylitis ankylosans, Polytrauma, Skelettmetastasen, Plasmozytom und das maligne Lymphom wird eingegangen. Die Ganzkoerper-MRT bietet neue Moeglichkeiten, insbesondere zur Ausbreitungsdiagnostik und Verlaufskontrolle multifokaler muskuloskelettaler Erkrankungen. Der klinische Nutzen dieser Methode fuer die einzelnen Erkrankungsentitaeten muss in weiteren Studien evaluiert werden. (orig.)

  16. Intracellular organisation of polyhydroxyalkanoate inclusion bodies: a role for small angle neutron scattering?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foster, L.J.R.; Holden, P.J.; Garvey, C.J.; Russell, R.A.; Stone, D.J.M.

    2003-01-01

    Full text: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a diverse family of bacterially produced biopolyesters. Their biodegradability, and in some cases biocompatibility, suggest applications ranging from bioplastics to biomedical implantation devices. Despite extensive interest in their production and potential applications, little is known about their intracellular organisation. Microbial PHAs are synthesised by microorganisms under conditions of nutrient stress and can comprise up to 90% of the dry cell mass. The formation and organisation of these PHA inclusion bodies requires clarification. Such investigations have important implications for the biotechnological production of PHAs in microbes and other organisms, for downstream processing and in vitro precision polymerisation. Morphological and biochemical evidence supports two different models for the intracellular organisation of PHAs. Steinbuchel and coworkers propose a simple model of amorphous PHA enclosed by a single protein membrane consisting of structural proteins (PHAsins) and enzymes responsible for synthesis and degradation. In contrast, Fuller and coworkers have theorised a more complex system of PHA encompassed by a PHAsin bilayer separated by phospholipid. The polymerase and depolymerase enzymes are proposed to be associated with an incomplete inner PHAsin layer. It may be that such models are genera or species specific, since both proposals were derived from research on different species producing different types of PHA. Our initial investigations have focussed on in vivo deuteration of polyhydroxyoctanoate, produced by Pseudomonas oleovorans, both in fermentation on natural and deuterated substrates and during Small Angle Neutron Scattering by whole cells using AUSANS. The nature of the structural questions and our preliminary findings including contrast variation data will be discussed

  17. Overlapping features of polymyositis and inclusion body myositis in HIV-infected patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lloyd, Thomas E.; Pinal-Fernandez, Iago; Michelle, E. Harlan; Christopher-Stine, Lisa; Pak, Katherine; Sacktor, Ned

    2017-01-01

    Objective: To characterize patients with myositis with HIV infection. Methods: All HIV-positive patients with myositis seen at the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center from 2003 to 2013 were included in this case series. Muscle biopsy features, weakness pattern, serum creatine kinase (CK) level, and anti–nucleotidase 1A (NT5C1A) status of HIV-positive patients with myositis were assessed. Results: Eleven of 1,562 (0.7%) patients with myositis were HIV-positive. Myositis was the presenting feature of HIV infection in 3 patients. Eight of 11 patients had weakness onset at age 45 years or less. The mean time from the onset of weakness to the diagnosis of myositis was 3.6 years (SD 3.2 years). The mean of the highest measured CK levels was 2,796 IU/L (SD 1,592 IU/L). On muscle biopsy, 9 of 10 (90%) had endomysial inflammation, 7 of 10 (70%) had rimmed vacuoles, and none had perifascicular atrophy. Seven of 11 (64%) patients were anti-NT5C1A-positive. Upon presentation, all had proximal and distal weakness. Five of 6 (83%) patients followed 1 year or longer on immunosuppressive therapy had improved proximal muscle strength. However, each eventually developed weakness primarily affecting wrist flexors, finger flexors, knee extensors, or ankle dorsiflexors. Conclusions: HIV-positive patients with myositis may present with some characteristic polymyositis features including young age at onset, very high CK levels, or proximal weakness that improves with treatment. However, all HIV-positive patients with myositis eventually develop features most consistent with inclusion body myositis, including finger and wrist flexor weakness, rimmed vacuoles on biopsy, or anti-NT5C1A autoantibodies. PMID:28283597

  18. Quantification of whole-body bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease participants using multiple inertial sensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Memar, Sara; Delrobaei, Mehdi; Pieterman, Marcus; McIsaac, Kenneth; Jog, Mandar

    2018-04-15

    Bradykinesia (slowness of movement) is a common motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can severely affect quality of life for those living with the disease. Assessment and treatment of PD motor symptoms largely depends on clinical scales such as the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). However, such clinical scales rely on the visual assessment by a human observer, naturally resulting in inter-rater variability. Although previous studies have developed objective means for measuring bradykinesia in PD patients, their evaluation was restricted by the type of movement and number of joints assessed. These studies failed to provide a more comprehensive, whole-body evaluation capable of measuring multiple joints simultaneously. This study utilizes wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) to quantify whole-body movements, providing novel bradykinesia indices for walking (WBI) and standing up from a chair (sit-to-stand; SBI). The proposed bradykinesia indices include the joint angles at both upper and lower limbs and trunk motion to compute a complete, objective score for whole body bradykinesia. Thirty PD and 11 age-matched healthy control participants were recruited for the study. The participants performed two standard walking tasks that involved multiple body joints in the upper and lower limbs. The WBI and SBI successfully identified differences between control and PD participants. The indices also effectively identified differences within the PD population, distinguishing participants assessed with (ON) and without (OFF) levodopa; the gold-standard of treatment for PD. The goal of this study is to provide health professionals with an objective score for whole body bradykinesia by simultaneously measuring the upper and lower extremities along with truncal movement. This method demonstrates potential to be used in conjunction with current clinical standards for motor symptom assessment, and may also be promising for the remote assessment of PD

  19. Quetiapine effective in treatment of inappropriate sexual behavior of lewy body disease with predominant frontal lobe signs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prakash, Ravi; Pathak, Amit; Munda, Sanjay; Bagati, Dhruv

    2009-01-01

    Dementia of Lewy body disease is the second most common degenerative cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, among all the dementias. The core features are a progressive dementia, fluctuations in cognitive functions, visual hallucinations, and spontaneous parkinsonism. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, severe neuroleptic sensitivity, and low dopamine transporter uptake in basal ganglia are other suggestive features. Behavioral abnormalities are commonly present in the form of aggressive behavior, irritability, and uninhibited behaviors. These are mostly seen in the advanced stages of dementia. However, inappropriate sexual behavior is uncommonly seen in such cases. Three types of inappropriate sexual behaviors commonly found in cases of dementia are sex talks, sexual acts, and implied sexual acts. Such inappropriate sexual behaviors have not been described adequately in dementia of Lewy body disease. We report inappropriate sexual behaviors in a case of dementia of Lewy body disease, which improved rapidly after treatment with quetiapine.

  20. Perceived and actual social discrimination: the case of overweight and social inclusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartung, Freda-Marie; Renner, Britta

    2013-01-01

    The present study examined the correspondence between perceived and actual social discrimination of overweight people. In total, 77 first-year students provided self-ratings about their height, weight, and perceived social inclusion. To capture actual social inclusion, each participant nominated those fellow students (a) she/he likes and dislikes and (b) about whom she/he is likely to hear social news. Students with lower Body Mass Index (BMI) felt socially included, irrespective of their actual social inclusion. In contrast, students with higher BMI felt socially included depending on the degree of their actual social inclusion. Specifically, their felt social inclusion accurately reflected whether they were actually liked/disliked, but only when they were part of social news. When not part of social news, they also showed insensitivity to their actual social inclusion status. Thus, students with a lower BMI tended to be insensitive, while students with a higher BMI showed a differential sensitivity to actual social discrimination.

  1. Impact of biological therapy on body composition of patients with Chron's disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julianne Campos dos Santos

    Full Text Available Summary Introduction: Protein-energy malnutrition in Crohn's disease (CD has been reported in 20 to 92% of patients, and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and higher costs for the health system. Anti-TNF drugs are a landmark in the clinical management, promoting prolonged remission in patients with CD. It is believed that the remission of this disease leads to nutritional recovery. The effect of biological therapy on body composition and nutritional status is unclear. Method: Prospective study of body assessment by bioelectrical impedance method in patients with moderate to severe CD undergoing treatment with infliximab. The main outcome was the body composition before and after 6 months of anti-TNF therapy. Results: There was a predominance of females (52% with a mean age of 42±12 years. Most patients were eutrophic at baseline and remained so. There was an increase in all parameters of body composition after anti-TNF treatment: BMI (22.9±3.2 versus 25±3.8; p=0.005, waist circumference (88.1±6.7 versus 93.9±7.7; p=0.002, lean mass index (17.5±2.2 versus 18.2±2.3; p=0.000 and fat mass index (5.5±2.3 versus 6.8±2.3; p=0.000. Phase angle remained unchanged (6.2 versus 6.8; p=0.94. Conclusion: After therapy with IFX, all components of body composition increased, except for phase angle. The substantial increase in fat mass index and waist circumference led to concern regarding cardiovascular risk and, thus, to the need for further studies.

  2. Hydatid Disease Involving Some Rare Locations in the Body: a Pictorial Essay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuksel, Murvet; Demirpolat, Gulen; Sever, Ahmet; Bakaris, Sevgi; Bulbuloglu, Ertan; Elmas, Nevra

    2007-01-01

    Hydatid disease (HD) is an endemic illness in many countries, and it poses an important public health problem that's influenced by peoples' socioeconomic status and migration that spreads this disease. The most common site is the liver (59 75%), followed in frequency by lung (27%), kidney (3%), bone (1 4%) and brain (1 2%). Other sites such as the heart, spleen, pancreas and muscles are very rarely affected. Unusual sites for this disease can cause diagnostic problems. Familiarity with the imaging findings of HD may be helpful in making an accurate diagnosis and preventing potential complications. The occurrence of E. granulosus in some locations of the body is very rare. These anatomic locations may cause difficulties in making the differential diagnosis as E. granulosus is usually not suspected in some locations of the body. Imaging modalities such as US, CT and MRI are helpful in diagnosing this disease. Radiologists, surgeons and physicians should always consider HD in differential diagnosis of a cystic lesion, and especially for the cystic leasions encountered in patients who live in or have come from endemic regions and if any of the previously described imaging features (e.g., calcification, daughter cysts and/or intracystic membranes) are seen. Familiarity with the various imaging appearances of HD may prevent diagnostic delay, and so decrease the risk of life-threatening complications

  3. Serological prevalence of human parvovirus B19 in diseases or disordersrelated to different human body systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aktaş, Osman; Aydin, Hakan; Uslu, Hakan

    2016-02-17

    Human parvovirus B19 is a pathogen that affects different parts of the body. We planned this study because of the lack of data on B19 seroprevalence based on different body-system diseases. The prevalence of parvovirus B19 antibodies was investigated retrospectively in 1239 patients by review of medical records from 2009-2012, according to their diseases classified under general titles in compliance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Parvovirus B19-specific antibodies were detected by quantitative enzyme immunoassays. The positivity rate was 27.8% for only IgG, 8.5% for only IgM, and 2.6% for both IgG and IgM. The highest positivity for IgG alone was found in musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases (55.9%), while the highest positivity for IgM was found in neoplasms (16.4%). The highest positivity for IgG was seen in rheumatoid arthritis (72.2%) and pregnancy (52.6%), and the highest positivity for total IgM was found in upper respiratory tract disease (21.0%) and hepatic failure (17.1%). Parvovirus B19 seroprevalence was relatively low in northeastern Anatolia compared to most serological studies conducted in other regions. We think that this study has provided the first wide-ranging information on the seroprevalence of B19 in diseases and disorders of the major human body systems.

  4. Fetal position in Alzheimer’s disease. An anatomic body remodelling due to retrogenesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gregory TSOUCALAS

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Acquired fetal position by patients in end stage Alzheimer’s disease is a quite common sign. The theory of retrogenesis was proposed to explain this anatomic remodelling of the human body.

  5. Iridovirus disease in two ornamental tropical freshwater fishes: African lampeye and dwarf gourami.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudthongkong, Chaiwud; Miyata, Masato; Miyazaki, Teruo

    2002-04-05

    Many species of ornamental freshwater fishes are imported into Japan from all over the world. We found African lampeye Aplocheilichthys normani and dwarf gourami Colisa lalia suffering from an iridovirus infection just after being imported by tropical fish wholesalers from Singapore. African lampeye were cultured on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra and dwarf gourami were cultured in Malaysia before export. Diseased fishes displayed distinct histopathological signs of iridovirus infection: systemic appearance of inclusion body-bearing cells, and necrosis of splenocytes and hematopoietic cells. Electron microscopy revealed viral particles (African lampeye:180 to 200 nm in edge to edge diameter; dwarf gourami: 140 to 150 nm in diameter) in an inclusion body within the cytoplasm of inclusion body-bearing cells as well as in the cytoplasm of necrotized cells. Experimental infection with an iridovirus isolate from African lampeye (ALIV) revealed pathogenicity of ALIV to African lampeye and pearl gourami Trichogaster leeri. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products from ALIV and an iridovirus isolate from dwarf gourami (DGIV) using iridovirus-specific primers were indistinguishable. The nucleotide sequence of PCR products derived from ALIV (696 base pairs) and DGIV (701 base pairs) had 95.3% identity. These results indicate that ALIV and DGIV have a single origin.

  6. Bodies in skin: a philosophical and theological approach to genetic skin diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walser, Angelika

    2010-03-01

    This contribution evolved from my work in a European network and is dedicated to the rare genetic skin diseases. To gain a deeper knowledge about the question, what it means to suffer from a genetic skin disease, I have discussed the concepts of skin in philosophical and theological anthropology. Presuming that ancient interpretations of skin diseases (moral and cultical impurity) are still relevant today, feminist Christian theology shows the ways of deconstructing stigmatizing paradigma by using the body as a hermeneutic category. Skin becomes the "open borderline" of the human being, pointing out both the social vulnerability and the transcendent capacity of the human person.

  7. Association of body mass index and the depletion of nigrostriatal dopamine in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae Jung; Oh, Jungsu S; Ham, Jee H; Lee, Dong H; Lee, Injoo; Sohn, Young H; Kim, Jae S; Lee, Phil Hyu

    2016-02-01

    Several antecedent studies had reported close relationship between low body weight and Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there have been few investigations about the role of body weight to nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurodegeneration. This study enrolled 398 de novo patients with PD whom underwent [18F] N-(3-Fluoropropyl)-2β-carbon ethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane positron emission tomography scan and body mass index (BMI) measurement. The relationships between BMI and dopamine transporter (DAT) activity were analyzed using linear regression analysis. A multivariate analysis adjusted for age, gender, disease duration, smoking status, coffee and tea consumption, and residence area revealed that BMI remained independently and significantly associated with DAT activity in all striatal subregions. Moreover, multiple logistic regression analyses showed that BMI was a significant predictor for the lowest quartile of DAT activity in the anterior putamen, ventral striatum, caudate nucleus, and total striatum. The present findings suggest that a low BMI might be closely associated with low density of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in PD, which could support the evidence for the role of low body weight to PD-related pathologies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Association between body energy content in the dry period and post-calving production disease status in dairy cattle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, G L; Friggens, N C; Ashworth, C J; Chagunda, M G G

    2017-09-01

    The transition from gestation to lactation is marked by significant physiological changes for the individual cow such that disease incidence is highest in early lactation. Around the time of calving, cows rely on mobilisation of body energy reserves to fill the energy deficit created by an increase in nutrient demands at a time of restricted feed intake. It is well established that monitoring of body energy reserves in lactation is an important component of herd health management. However, despite their influence on future health and productivity, monitoring of body energy reserves in the dry period is often sparse. Further, there is increasing concern that current dry off management is inappropriate for modern cattle and may influence future disease risk. This study aimed to identify candidate indicators of early lactation production disease from body energy data collected in the dry period and production data recorded at the time of dry off. Retrospective analysis was performed on 482 cow-lactations collected from a long-term Holstein-Friesian genetic and management systems project, the Langhill herd in Scotland. Cow-lactations were assigned to one of four health groups based on health status in the first 30 days of lactation. These four groups were as follows: healthy, reproductive tract disorders (retained placenta and metritis), subclinical mastitis and metabolic disorders (ketosis, hypocalcaemia, hypomagnesaemia and left displaced abomasum). ANOVA, employing a GLM was used to determine effects for the candidate indicator traits. Cows which were diagnosed with a reproductive tract disorder in the first 30 days of lactation experienced a significantly greater loss in body energy content, body condition score and weight in the preceding dry period than healthy cows. The rate of change in body energy content during the first 15 days of the dry period was -18.26 MJ/day for cows which developed reproductive tract disorder compared with +0.63 MJ/day for healthy cows

  9. Prevention of inclusion body hepatitis/hydropericardium syndrome in progeny chickens by vaccination of breeders with fowl adenovirus and chicken anemia virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toro, H; González, C; Cerda, L; Morales, M A; Dooner, P; Salamero, M

    2002-01-01

    The hypothesis that an effective protection of progeny chickens against inclusion body hepatitis/hydropericardium syndrome (IBH/HP) can be achieved by dual vaccination of breeders with fowl adenovirus (FAV) serotype 4 and chicken anemia virus (CAV) was tested. Thus, 17-wk-old brown leghorn pullet groups were vaccinated by different schemes including single FAV (inactivated), single CAV (attenuated), FAV and CAV dually, or were not vaccinated (controls). Subsequent progenies of these breeders were challenged with the virulent strains FAV-341 and CAV-10343 following three strategies: 1) FAV-341 intramuscularly (i.m.) at day 10 of age (only FAV-vaccinated and control progenies); 2) FAV + CAV i.m. simultaneously at day 10 of age (all progenies); 3) CAV i.m. at day 1 and FAV orally at day 10 of age (all progenies). The induction of IBH/HP in these progenies was evaluated throughout a 10-day period. Both breeder groups vaccinated against FAV and those vaccinated against CAV increased virus neutralizing specific antibodies. Challenge strategy 1 showed 26.6% mortality in control progeny chickens and 13.3% in the progeny of FAV-vaccinated breeders. Presence of lesions in the liver of these groups showed no significant differences (P > 0.05), suggesting a discreet protective effect of the vaccine. Challenge strategy 2 showed 29.4% mortality in controls and 94% of chickens showed hepatic inclusion bodies (HIB). Single CAV vaccination of breeders did not demonstrate a beneficial effect, with both mortality and liver lesions resembling the nonvaccinated controls. FAV vaccination of breeders significantly reduced both mortality (7.4%) and liver lesions (26% HIB) (P vaccination of breeders with FAV and CAV proved to be necessary to achieve maximum protection of the progeny (no mortality and 7% HIB). Challenge strategy 3 produced no mortality but consistent liver damage in controls (96% HIB). In this case, both CAV and FAV + CAV-vaccinated breeders showed best protection results

  10. Body mass, fat-free body mass, and prognosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from a random population sample

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vestbo, Jørgen; Prescott, Eva; Almdal, Thomas

    2006-01-01

    Low body mass index (BMI) is a marker of poor prognosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In the general population, the harmful effect of low BMI is due to the deleterious effects of a low fat-free mass index (FFMI; fat-free mass/weight(2))....

  11. The association of neuroleptic sensitivity in Lewy body disease with a false positive clinical diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lemstra, A. W.; Schoenmaker, N.; Rozemuller-Kwakkel, A. J. M.; van Gool, W. A.

    2006-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) share clinical features like cognitive decline, motor disturbances en psychiatric symptoms. Overlapping symptoms may cause physicians to mistake DLB for CJD. METHODS: Clinical data of 12 patients with autopsy-confirmed

  12. Is Parkinson’s Disease Truly a Prion-Like Disorder? An Appraisal of Current Evidence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aneesha Chauhan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Parkinson’s disease (PD is the world’s second most common neurodegenerative disease and most common movement disorder. Characterised by a loss of dopaminergic neurons and the development of intraneuronal inclusions known as Lewy bodies, it has classically been thought of as a cell-autonomous disease. However, in 2008, two groups reported the startling observation of Lewy bodies within embryonic neuronal grafts transplanted into PD patients little more than a decade previously, suggesting that PD pathology can be propagated to neighbouring cells and calling basic assumptions of our understanding of the disease into question. Subsequent research has largely served to confirm this interpretation, pointing towards a prion-like intercellular transfer of misfolded α-synuclein, the main component of Lewy bodies, as central to PD. This shift in thinking offers a revolutionary approach to PD treatment, potentially enabling a transition from purely symptomatic therapy to direct targeting of the pathology that drives disease progression. In this short review, we appraise current experimental support for PD as a prion-like disease, whilst highlighting areas of controversy or inconsistency which must be resolved. We also offer a brief discussion of the therapeutic implications of these discoveries.

  13. Does financial inclusion affect monetary policy in SAARC countries?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjaya Kumar Lenka

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Alike the role of heart for human body, finance is the focal point of an economy, whereas savings and investment are its tubes and vessels. Hence, a solid financial system is a fundamental character of an enduring economy. The frozen financial system endures longer if its foundation is concrete and subsists in the people of grass-root level. They are those, who live in villages and small towns, earn meager income, work in primary sector, spend more on food, and have lesser social securities. In this setting, the process of bringing these people into the main stream of financial activities is called financial inclusion. This study describes the impact of financial inclusion on monetary policy of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC countries from 2004–2013. The study uses principal component analysis (PCA to construct a Financial Inclusion Index that serves as a proxy variable for the accessibility of financial inclusion in the SAARC countries. Adding to it, three different models like FEM, REM, and Panel-corrected standard errors are used for the analysis. In this study, an empirical result of generalized least square(GLS estimation shows that financial inclusion, exchange rate, and interest rate are negatively associated with inflation in SAARC countries.

  14. Correlation of endoscopic severity of gastroesophageal reflux disease (gerd) with body mass index (bmi)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zafar, S.; Haq, I.U.; Butt, A.R.; Shafiq, F.; Huda, G.; Mirza, G.; Rehman, A.U.

    2007-01-01

    To assess the correlation of endoscopic severity of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) with Body Mass Index (BMI). This study was conducted on 203 patients, who presented with upper GI symptoms. Patients who fulfilled the symptom criteria were referred for endoscopy. Classification of GERD was done according to LA Grading classification system. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as Body Weight (BW) in kilograms (kg) divided by the square of the body height (BH) in meter (m2). Patient data was analyzed using SPSS 12 software. Statistical evaluation was done using non-parametric Wilcoxon's-sign Rank test. P-value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Distribution of GERD was as follows: GERD-A subjects 65 (32%), GERD B subjects 72 (35.4%), GERD-C subjects 23 (11.3%), GERD-D subjects 10 (4.92%), while Non-Erosive Reflux Disease (NERD) was present in 33 subjects (16.2%). Mean BMI was 27+5.02SD (range of 18.2-38.3). BMI of patients having NERD was in normal range but patients who were having advanced disease i.e. Grade C-D were in obese range of BMI, while those who were having LA grade A-B were in overweight BMI range. When regrouped as mild GERD (grade A-B) and NERD versus severe GERD (grade C-D), there was a strong significant correlation between severity of GERD and BMI, as detected by Wilcoxon's signed Rank test (p=0.001). Higher BMI seems to be associated with higher degree of endoscopic GERD severity. (author)

  15. MR imaging of degenerative lumbar disc disease emphasizing on signal intensity changes in vertebral body

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toyoda, Keiko; Ida, Masahiro; Murakami, Yoshitaka; Harada, Junta; Tada, Shimpei

    1992-01-01

    Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 400 patients with degenerative disc disease. Signal changes and their sites in the vertebral body were classified and referred to narrowing of the intervertebral disc space. MR findings were compared with those of plain roentgenograms of the lumbar spine. Signal changes in the vertebral body were noted in 83 cases (102 vertebral bodies). Low-intensity abnormality on both T1- and T2-weighted images (WI) was the most common finding, and was most frequently seen at the end plate and/or the angle. These changes were correlated with narrowing of the disc space and osteosclerosis on the plain roentgenogram of the lumbar spine. Signal changes occasionally occurred in the inner region of the vertebral body, and these lesions tended to show a high-intensity abnormality on T1-WI. We conclude that signal changes in degenerative disc disease are not specific, but are sometimes difficult to distinguish from the signal changes in other conditions such as spinal tumor or bone marrow disorder. (author)

  16. Expression and purification of a novel therapeutic single-chain variable fragment antibody against BNP from inclusion bodies of Escherichia coli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bu, Dawei; Zhou, Yuwei; Tang, Jian; Jing, Fang; Zhang, Wei

    2013-12-01

    Abnormal brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) secretion is regarded as the dominating mechanism of cerebral salt wasting syndrome (CSW), which results from a renal loss of sodium and water during intracranial disease leading to hyponatremia. Scale preparation of therapeutic single-chain variable fragment (scFv) that can neutralize elevated circulating BNP may have potential value for clinical use. In this report, we used a recently isolated humanized anti-BNP scFv fragment (3C1) as model antibody (Ab) to evaluate the potential of scale production of this therapeutic protein. The truncated gene encoding for scFv fragment cloned in pET22b (+) was mainly overexpressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli (E. coli) Rosetta (DE3) pLysS cells. The insoluble fragment was solubilized and purified by Ni-NTA agarose resin under denaturation conditions, and recovered via an effective refolding buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 0.15 M NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.5 M arginine, 2 mM GSH, 1 mM GSSG, and 5% glycerol. The refolded scFv fragment was concentrated by PEG20000, and dialyzed in PBS (containing 5% glycerol, pH 7.4). The final yield was approximately 10.2 mg active scFv fragment per liter of culture (3.4 g wet weight cells). The scFv fragment was more than 95% pure assessed by SDS-PAGE assay. Recombinant scFv fragment with His tag displayed its immunoreactivity with anti-His tag Ab by western blotting. ELISA showed the scFv fragment specifically bound to BNP, and it displayed similar activity as the traditional anti-BNP monoclonal Ab (mAb). Thus, the current strategy allows convenient small-scale production of this therapeutic protein. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Effective response and scattering cross section of spherical inclusions in a medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alexopoulos, A., E-mail: Aris.Alexopoulos@dsto.defence.gov.a [Electronic Warfare and Radar Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), PO Box 1500, Edinburgh 5111 (Australia)

    2009-08-24

    The Maxwell-Garnett theory for a right-handed homogeneous system is extended in order to investigate the effective response of a medium consisting of low density distributed 3-dimensional inclusions. The polarisability factor is modified to account for inclusions with binary layered volumes and it is shown that such a configuration can yield doubly negative effective permittivity and permeability. Terms representing second-order scattering interactions between binary inclusions in the medium are derived and are used to reformulate conventional effective medium theory. In the appropriate limit, the one-body theory of Maxwell-Garnett is recovered. The scattering cross section of the spherical inclusions is determined and comparison is made to homogeneous dielectric scatterers in the Rayleigh limit. It is found that the scattering resonances can be manipulated using the inclusion parameters. Furthermore, the effect that two-interacting spherical inclusions in a medium have on the scattering cross section is investigated via higher order dipole moments while the issue of reducing the scattering cross section to zero is also examined.

  18. Confronting New Demands : Inclusive Growth, Inclusive Trade ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Confronting New Demands : Inclusive Growth, Inclusive Trade. Policymakers, businesspeople and civil society advocates need evidence-based research to react ... understood implications, such as labour standards and intellectual property; ...

  19. Hubbard-Stratonovich-like Transformations for Few-Body Inter-actions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Körber Christopher

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Through the development of many-body methodology and algorithms, it has become possible to describe quantum systems composed of a large number of particles with great accuracy. Essential to all these methods is the application of auxiliary fields via the Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation. This transformation effectively reduces two-body interactions to interactions of one particle with the auxiliary field, thereby improving the computational scaling of the respective algorithms. The relevance of collective phenomena and interactions grows with the number of particles. For many theories, e.g. Chiral Perturbation Theory, the inclusion of three-body forces has become essential in order to further increase the accuracy on the many-body level. In this proceeding, the an-alytical framework for establishing a Hubbard-Stratonovich-like transformation, which allows for the systematic and controlled inclusion of contact three-and more-body inter-actions, is presented.

  20. The effects of time of disease occurrence, milk yield, and body condition on fertility of dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loeffler, S H; de Vries, M J; Schukken, Y H

    1999-12-01

    The associations between occurrence of diseases, milk yield, and body condition score on conception risk after first artificial insemination (AI) were analyzed in an observational study on a convenience sample of 43 farms participating in a herd health program. Data were taken from 9369 lactations, from 4382 cows inseminated between 20 and 180 d in milk from 1990 to 1996. Two logistic regression models, one containing data from all lactations and a subset containing data from 1762 lactations with body condition scoring, were used to determine pregnancy risk at first AI. The effects of herd deviation in test-day milk yield, body condition score loss, and milk fat to protein ratio changes in early lactation were significant predictors of pregnancy risk, independent of disease; days in milk; farm; and seasonal factors. Three different methods of disease parameterization (incidence rates, binomial classes dependent on the interval in days since last occurrence with respect to AI, and a linear variable weighted for this interval) produced similar results. Metritis, cystic ovarian disease, lameness, and mastitis gave odds ratios for pregnancy risk ranging from 0.35 to 1.15, largely dependent on the interval in days from final disease occurrence to first AI. Displaced abomasum, milk fever, and retained fetal membranes resulted in odds ratios for pregnancy risk of 0.25, 0.85, and 0.55, respectively. These diseases showed little relationship between fertility and the number of days since last occurrence. Results of this study confirm the negative effects of milk yield, body score condition loss, and disease on dairy cow fertility. The effects of some diseases on first service conception were strongly dependent on the interval since last disease occurrence. This was especially valid for clinical mastitis, which has an extremely weak effect on conception if occurring prior to AI and is associated with > 50% reduction in pregnancy risk if occurring in the 3 wk directly after

  1. Penile epidermal inclusion cyst: a late complication of penile girth enhancement surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Hyun Jun; Park, Nam Cheol; Park, Sung Woo; Jern, Tae Kyung; Choi, Kyung-Un

    2008-09-01

    Epidermal inclusion cysts are benign lesions that can develop in any part of the body. However, the finding of an epidermal inclusion cyst in the penis is rare. The aim of this article was to present the management of a case of a penile epidermal inclusion cyst that occurred because of late complications of a penile girth enhancement surgery. A 52-year-old man presented with a painless, slowly growing mass in the penis, which was first noted after a penile girth enhancement surgery 20 years ago. A cystic mobile mass about 2 cm in depth was found surrounding the coronal sulcus. Excision of the mass was performed for diagnosis and treatment. There was no communication with the urethra. The pathological diagnosis was an epidermal inclusion cyst of the penis. A penile epidermal inclusion cyst in adult men is rare. It can develop after an inadequate procedure for penile girth enhancement, and should be treated by complete resection.

  2. Targeting ADAM12 in human disease: head, body or tail?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jacobsen, J; Wewer, U M

    2009-01-01

    ) and insulin-like growth factor receptor signaling. The body of the protein (consisting of the disintegrin, cysteine-rich, and EGF-like domains) is involved in contacts with the extracellular matrix and other cells through interactions with integrins and syndecans. Finally, the tail of the protein (consisting......ADAM12/meltrin alpha is a type I transmembrane multidomain protein involved in tumor progression and other severe diseases, including osteoarthritis, and as such could be considered as a potential drug target. In addition to protease activity, ADAM12 possesses cell binding and cell signaling...... properties. This functional trinity is reflected in the structure of ADAM12, which can be divided into head, body, and tail. The head of the protein (consisting of the pro and catalytic domains) mediates processing of growth factors and cytokines and has been implicated in epidermal growth factor (EGF...

  3. Developing a financial inclusion index and inclusive growth in India

    OpenAIRE

    Susanta Kumar SETHY

    2016-01-01

    Financial inclusion is one of the systems through which Inclusive Growth can be achieved in developing countries like India where large sections are unable or hopeless to contribute in the financial system. An inclusive financial system mobilizes more resources for productive purposes leading to higher economic growth, better opportunities and reduction of poverty. This study, proposed an Index of financial inclusion – a multidimensional measure. The Financial Inclusion Index c...

  4. Adolescent overweight, obesity and chronic disease-related health practices: mediation by body image.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farhat, Tilda; Iannotti, Ronald J; Caccavale, Laura J

    2014-01-01

    To examine whether body image mediates the association between overweight/obesity and chronic disease-related health practices (CDRHP), including lack of physical activity (PA), infrequent breakfast consumption (IBC), screen-based media use (SBM), and smoking. The 2006 Health Behaviors in School-Age Children survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of US students (n = 8,028) in grades 6-10 (mean age = 14.3 years). Outcome variables included self-reported measures of PA, SBM, IBC, and smoking. Body image was assessed with 5 items from the Body Investment Scale (α = 0.87) asking for agreement/disagreement with statements about one's body. Stratifying on gender, an initial regression model estimated the association between overweight/obesity and CDRHP. Mediation models that included body image were then compared to the initial model to determine the role of body image in the relationship between overweight/obesity and CDRHP. Among boys, body image mediated the relationships of overweight/obesity with SBM, and of obesity with IBC. Among girls, it mediated the relationships of obesity with PA, IBC, and smoking, and of overweight with SBM. As the prevalence of overweight/obesity among adolescent boys and girls remains high, efforts to improve their body image could result in less frequent engagement in CDRHP. © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

  5. Adolescent Overweight, Obesity and Chronic Disease-Related Health Practices: Mediation by Body Image

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tilda Farhat

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims: To examine whether body image mediates the association between overweight/obesity and chronic disease-related health practices (CDRHP, including lack of physical activity (PA, infrequent breakfast consumption (IBC, screen-based media use (SBM, and smoking. Methods: The 2006 Health Behaviors in School-Age Children survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of US students (n = 8,028 in grades 6-10 (mean age = 14.3 years. Outcome variables included self-reported measures of PA, SBM, IBC, and smoking. Body image was assessed with 5 items from the Body Investment Scale (α = 0.87 asking for agreement/disagreement with statements about one's body. Stratifying on gender, an initial regression model estimated the association between overweight/obesity and CDRHP. Mediation models that included body image were then compared to the initial model to determine the role of body image in the relationship between overweight/obesity and CDRHP. Results: Among boys, body image mediated the relationships of overweight/obesity with SBM, and of obesity with IBC. Among girls, it mediated the relationships of obesity with PA, IBC, and smoking, and of overweight with SBM. Conclusion: As the prevalence of overweight/obesity among adolescent boys and girls remains high, efforts to improve their body image could result in less frequent engagement in CDRHP.

  6. The inclusion of coffee in commercial layer diets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LR Mendes

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This experiment aimed at evaluating the effect of the dietary inclusion of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee on the performance and internal and external egg quality of commercial layers. One hundred and twenty 25-week-old Hy-line Brown layers, with 1575 ± 91 average body weight, were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design with three treatments (control, 1.2% caffeinated coffee, or 1.2% decaffeinated coffee of five replicates of eight birds each. The inclusion of 1.2% caffeinated coffee was calculated to supply 6mg caffeine per kg body weight, which is considered a moderate dose. The applied treatments did not influence (p>0.05 feed intake, egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, Haugh units, yolk color or albumen and yolk percentages. The eggs of hens fed 1.2% caffeinated coffee presented lower (p<0.05 eggshell thickness and egg specific density. The eggs of layers fed 1.2% caffeinated coffee tended (p=0.0637 to present lower eggshell percentage. It was concluded that feeding caffeinated coffee to commercial layers does not affect their performance or internal egg quality; however, eggshell quality is impaired.

  7. Calcium dysregulation, functional calpainopathy, and endoplasmic reticulum stress in sporadic inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amici, David R; Pinal-Fernandez, Iago; Mázala, Davi A G; Lloyd, Thomas E; Corse, Andrea M; Christopher-Stine, Lisa; Mammen, Andrew L; Chin, Eva R

    2017-03-22

    Sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common primary myopathy in the elderly, but its pathoetiology is still unclear. Perturbed myocellular calcium (Ca 2+ ) homeostasis can exacerbate many of the factors proposed to mediate muscle degeneration in IBM, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Ca 2+ dysregulation may plausibly be initiated in IBM by immune-mediated membrane damage and/or abnormally accumulating proteins, but no studies to date have investigated Ca 2+ regulation in IBM patients. We first investigated protein expression via immunoblot in muscle biopsies from IBM, dermatomyositis, and non-myositis control patients, identifying several differentially expressed Ca 2+ -regulatory proteins in IBM. Next, we investigated the Ca 2+ -signaling transcriptome by RNA-seq, finding 54 of 183 (29.5%) genes from an unbiased list differentially expressed in IBM vs. controls. Using an established statistical approach to relate genes with causal transcription networks, Ca 2+ abundance was considered a significant upstream regulator of observed whole-transcriptome changes. Post-hoc analyses of Ca 2+ -regulatory mRNA and protein data indicated a lower protein to transcript ratio in IBM vs. controls, which we hypothesized may relate to increased Ca 2+ -dependent proteolysis and decreased protein translation. Supporting this hypothesis, we observed robust (4-fold) elevation in the autolytic activation of a Ca 2+ -activated protease, calpain-1, as well as increased signaling for translational attenuation (eIF2a phosphorylation) downstream of the unfolded protein response. Finally, in IBM samples we observed mRNA and protein under-expression of calpain-3, the skeletal muscle-specific calpain, which broadly supports proper Ca 2+ homeostasis. Together, these data provide novel insight into mechanisms by which intracellular Ca 2+ regulation is perturbed in IBM and offer evidence of pathological downstream effects.

  8. Application of an E. coli signal sequence as a versatile inclusion body tag.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jong, Wouter S P; Vikström, David; Houben, Diane; van den Berg van Saparoea, H Bart; de Gier, Jan-Willem; Luirink, Joen

    2017-03-21

    Heterologous protein production in Escherichia coli often suffers from bottlenecks such as proteolytic degradation, complex purification procedures and toxicity towards the expression host. Production of proteins in an insoluble form in inclusion bodies (IBs) can alleviate these problems. Unfortunately, the propensity of heterologous proteins to form IBs is variable and difficult to predict. Hence, fusing the target protein to an aggregation prone polypeptide or IB-tag is a useful strategy to produce difficult-to-express proteins in an insoluble form. When screening for signal sequences that mediate optimal targeting of heterologous proteins to the periplasmic space of E. coli, we observed that fusion to the 39 amino acid signal sequence of E. coli TorA (ssTorA) did not promote targeting but rather directed high-level expression of the human proteins hEGF, Pla2 and IL-3 in IBs. Further analysis revealed that ssTorA even mediated IB formation of the highly soluble endogenous E. coli proteins TrxA and MBP. The ssTorA also induced aggregation when fused to the C-terminus of target proteins and appeared functional as IB-tag in E. coli K-12 as well as B strains. An additive effect on IB-formation was observed upon fusion of multiple ssTorA sequences in tandem, provoking almost complete aggregation of TrxA and MBP. The ssTorA-moiety was successfully used to produce the intrinsically unstable hEGF and the toxic fusion partner SymE, demonstrating its applicability as an IB-tag for difficult-to-express and toxic proteins. We present proof-of-concept for the use of ssTorA as a small, versatile tag for robust E. coli-based expression of heterologous proteins in IBs.

  9. Effect of graded inclusion of dietary soybean meal on nutrient digestibility, health, and metabolic indices of adult dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menniti, M F; Davenport, G M; Shoveller, A K; Cant, J P; Osborne, V R

    2014-05-01

    Two studies were conducted using adult dogs to evaluate the effect of increasing the inclusion of soybean meal (SBM) in an adult dog food on body composition, hematological and biochemical blood analyses, and total tract nutrient digestibility. Nutritionally complete and balanced diets were formulated with commercial-grade SBM (48% CP) to replace 0, 10, 20, or 30% of the protein provided by dried chicken protein resulting in final SBM inclusion of 0, 6.0, 11.5, and 17.0% (as-fed basis), respectively. In study 1, diets were fed during a 24-wk feeding trial using 36 female (spayed), adult hounds to evaluate food intake, BW, body composition, and blood measurements. There were no diet-related differences in food intake or BW. Body composition responded in a quadratic manner to increased dietary SBM inclusion with the percentage (%) of lean mass responding positively (P dogs. Serum concentrations of C-reactive protein and IGF-1 were similar among diets. In study 2, diets were evaluated in a digestibility study using 12 adult dogs in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Increased SBM inclusion was associated with linear increases in the digestibility of CP (P dogs.

  10. Whole body BMC in pediatric Crohn disease: independent effects of altered growth, maturation, and body composition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnham, Jon M; Shults, Justine; Semeao, Edisio; Foster, Bethany; Zemel, Babette S; Stallings, Virginia A; Leonard, Mary B

    2004-12-01

    Whole body BMC was assessed in 104 children and young adults with CD and 233 healthy controls. CD was associated with significant deficits in BMC and lean mass, relative to height. Adjustment for lean mass eliminated the bone deficit in CD. Steroid exposure was associated with short stature but not bone deficits relative to height. Children with Crohn disease (CD) have multiple risk factors for impaired bone accrual. The confounding effects of poor growth and delayed maturation limit the interpretation of prior studies of bone health in CD. The objective of this study was to assess BMC relative to growth, body composition, and maturation in CD compared with controls. Whole body BMC and lean mass were assessed by DXA in 104 CD subjects and 233 healthy controls, 4-26 years of age. Multivariable linear regression models were developed to sequentially adjust for differences in skeletal size, pubertal maturation, and muscle mass. BMC-for-height z scores were derived to determine CD-specific covariates associated with bone deficits. Subjects with CD had significantly lower height z score, body mass index z score, and lean mass relative to height compared with controls (all p BMC in CD relative to controls was significantly reduced in males (0.86; 95% CI, 0.83, 0.94) and females (0.91; 95% CI, 0.85, 0.98) with CD. Adjustment for pubertal maturation did not alter the estimate; however, addition of lean mass to the model eliminated the bone deficit. Steroid exposure was associated with short stature but not bone deficits. This study shows the importance of considering differences in body size and composition when interpreting DXA data in children with chronic inflammatory conditions and shows an association between deficits in muscle mass and bone in pediatric CD.

  11. Combining Body Mass Index With Measures of Central Obesity in the Assessment of Mortality in Subjects With Coronary Disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Coutinho, Thais; Goel, Kashish; Corrêa de Sá, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    This study sought to assess the mortality risk of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) based ona combination of body mass index (BMI) with measures of central obesity.......This study sought to assess the mortality risk of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) based ona combination of body mass index (BMI) with measures of central obesity....

  12. Energy expenditure and body composition in children with Crohn's disease: effect of enteral nutrition and treatment with prednisolone

    OpenAIRE

    Azcue, M; Rashid, M; Griffiths, A; Pencharz, P

    1997-01-01

    Background—Malnutrition and growth retardation are common complications of Crohn's disease in children. The contribution of resting energy expenditure (REE) to malnutrition is unclear. 
Aims—To characterise the REE and body composition in children with Crohn's disease and compare them with normal controls and patients with anorexia nervosa; to compare the effects of prednisolone and enteral nutrition on energy expenditure and body composition. 
Subjects—Twenty four children wit...

  13. An efficient procedure for the expression and purification of HIV-1 protease from inclusion bodies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Hong-Loan Thi; Nguyen, Thuy Thi; Vu, Quy Thi; Le, Hang Thi; Pham, Yen; Trinh, Phuong Le; Bui, Thuan Phuong; Phan, Tuan-Nghia

    2015-12-01

    Several studies have focused on HIV-1 protease for developing drugs for treating AIDS. Recombinant HIV-1 protease is used to screen new drugs from synthetic compounds or natural substances. However, large-scale expression and purification of this enzyme is difficult mainly because of its low expression and solubility. In this study, we constructed 9 recombinant plasmids containing a sequence encoding HIV-1 protease along with different fusion tags and examined the expression of the enzyme from these plasmids. Of the 9 plasmids, pET32a(+) plasmid containing the HIV-1 protease-encoding sequence along with sequences encoding an autocleavage site GTVSFNF at the N-terminus and TEV plus 6× His tag at the C-terminus showed the highest expression of the enzyme and was selected for further analysis. The recombinant protein was isolated from inclusion bodies by using 2 tandem Q- and Ni-Sepharose columns. SDS-PAGE of the obtained HIV-1 protease produced a single band of approximately 13 kDa. The enzyme was recovered efficiently (4 mg protein/L of cell culture) and had high specific activity of 1190 nmol min(-1) mg(-1) at an optimal pH of 4.7 and optimal temperature of 37 °C. This procedure for expressing and purifying HIV-1 protease is now being scaled up to produce the enzyme on a large scale for its application. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Impact of nutritional status on body functioning in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and how to intervene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aniwidyaningsih, Wahju; Varraso, Raphaëlle; Cano, Noel; Pison, Christophe

    2008-07-01

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fifth leading cause of mortality in the world. This study reviews diet as a risk or protective factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mechanisms of malnutrition, undernutrition consequences on body functioning and how to modulate nutritional status of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Different dietary factors (dietary pattern, foods, nutrients) have been associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the course of the disease. Mechanical disadvantage, energy imbalance, disuse muscle atrophy, hypoxemia, systemic inflammation and oxidative stress have been reported to cause systemic consequences such as cachexia and compromise whole body functioning. Nutritional intervention makes it possible to modify the natural course of the disease provided that it is included in respiratory rehabilitation combining bronchodilators optimization, infection control, exercise and, in some patients, correction of hypogonadism. Diet, as a modifiable risk factor, appears more as an option to prevent and modify the course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Reduction of mechanical disadvantage, physical training and anabolic agents should be used conjointly with oral nutrition supplements to overcome undernutrition and might change the prognosis of the disease in some cases. Major research challenges address the role of systemic inflammation and the best interventions for controlling it besides smoking cessation.

  15. Microvillous inclusion disease: how to improve the prognosis of a severe congenital enterocyte disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halac, Ugur; Lacaille, Florence; Joly, Francisca; Hugot, Jean-Pierre; Talbotec, Cécile; Colomb, Virginie; Ruemmele, Frank M; Goulet, Olivier

    2011-04-01

    Microvillous inclusion disease (MVID) is a rare congenital enterocyte disorder causing severe diarrhea and intestinal failure. The objective of this study was to analyze clinical evolution and the most frequent complications of MVID in children receiving parenteral nutrition (PN) and after small-bowel transplantation (SBTx) with the aim to improve treatment strategies and prognosis. From 1995 to 2009, 24 patients (16 boys, median follow-up 4.7 years, range: from birth to 23.5 years) with MVID were admitted to our unit. The recorded parameters included growth, neurological development, liver and renal functions, bone disease, and outcome. Almost half of the children were from consanguineous families from the Mediterranean area. All of the patients completely depended on PN. Four children died of PN complications before 4 years of age. Before or without SBTx, growth failure was common (mean height -2.5 standard deviations [SD]), as was developmental delay (12/24), liver (20/22 with fibrosis) or kidney disease (3/23 with moderate renal insufficiency), and osteoporosis (6/24). Thirteen children underwent SBTx (9 isolated, 4 combined with liver Tx) at a median age of 3.5 years. Follow-up after SBTx was 0.4 to 14 years. Patient survival rates were 63% without SBTx and 77% with SBTx. After SBTx, 4 children experienced catch-up growth. PN in MVID is difficult to manage and requires expertise. Despite improved results in expert centers, the risk of death or irreversible sequelae is higher with PN than after Tx. SBTx, despite being complicated, remains the only hope to improve the quality of life and long-term prognosis of these children.

  16. Comparison of Serum rAAV Serotype-Specific Antibodies in Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Becker Muscular Dystrophy, Inclusion Body Myositis, or GNE Myopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zygmunt, Deborah A; Crowe, Kelly E; Flanigan, Kevin M; Martin, Paul T

    2017-09-01

    Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) is a commonly used gene therapy vector for the delivery of therapeutic transgenes in a variety of human diseases, but pre-existing serum antibodies to viral capsid proteins can greatly inhibit rAAV transduction of tissues. Serum was assayed from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), inclusion body myositis (IBM), and GNE myopathy (GNE). These were compared to serum from otherwise normal human subjects to determine the extent of pre-existing serum antibodies to rAAVrh74, rAAV1, rAAV2, rAAV6, rAAV8, and rAAV9. In almost all cases, patients with measurable titers to one rAAV serotype showed titers to all other serotypes tested, with average titers to rAAV2 being highest in all instances. Twenty-six percent of all young normal subjects (18 years old). Fifty percent of all IBM and GNE patients also had antibody titers to all rAAV serotypes, while only 18% of DMD and 0% of BMD patients did. In addition, serum-naïve macaques treated systemically with rAAVrh74 could develop cross-reactive antibodies to all other serotypes tested at 24 weeks post treatment. These data demonstrate that most DMD and BMD patients should be amenable to vascular rAAV-mediated treatment without the concern of treatment blockage by pre-existing serum rAAV antibodies, and that serum antibodies to rAAVrh74 are no more common than those for rAAV6, rAAV8, or rAAV9.

  17. Association between body composition and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis. A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarez-Nemegyei, José; Buenfil-Rello, Fátima Annai; Pacheco-Pantoja, Elda Leonor

    2016-01-01

    Reports regarding the association between body composition and inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have consistently yielded contradictory results. To perform a systematic review on the association between overweight/obesity and inflammatory activity in RA. FAST approach: Article search (Medline, EBSCO, Cochrane Library), followed by abstract retrieval, full text review and blinded assessment of methodological quality for final inclusion. Because of marked heterogeneity in statistical approach and RA activity assessment method, a meta-analysis could not be done. Results are presented as qualitative synthesis. One hundred and nineteen reports were found, 16 of them qualified for full text review. Eleven studies (8,147 patients; n range: 37-5,161) approved the methodological quality filter and were finally included. Interobserver agreement for methodological quality score (ICC: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.82-0.98; P.001) was excellent. In all reports body composition was assessed by BMI; however a marked heterogeneity was found in the method used for RA activity assessment. A significant association between BMI and RA activity was found in 6 reports having larger mean sample size: 1,274 (range: 140-5,161). On the other hand, this association was not found in 5 studies having lower mean sample size: 100 (range: 7-150). The modulation of RA clinical status by body fat mass is suggested because a significant association was found between BMI and inflammatory activity in those reports with a trend toward higher statistical power. The relationship between body composition and clinical activity in RA requires be approached with further studies with higher methodological quality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología. All rights reserved.

  18. Singing and social inclusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Graham F; Himonides, Evangelos; Saunders, Jo; Papageorgi, Ioulia; Sarazin, Marc

    2014-01-01

    There is a growing body of neurological, cognitive, and social psychological research to suggest the possibility of positive transfer effects from structured musical engagement. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that engagement in musical activities may impact on social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion are common concerns internationally, such as in the UK and the EC, and there are many diverse Government ministries and agencies globally that see the arts in general and music in particular as a key means by which social needs can be addressed. As part of a wider evaluation of a national, Government-sponsored music education initiative for Primary-aged children in England ("Sing Up"), opportunity was taken by the authors, at the request of the funders, to assess any possible relationship between (a) children's developing singing behavior and development and (b) their social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Subsequently, it was possible to match data from n = 6087 participants, drawn from the final 3 years of data collection (2008-2011), in terms of each child's individually assessed singing ability (based on their singing behavior of two well-known songs to create a "normalized singing score") and their written responses to a specially-designed questionnaire that included a set of statements related to children's sense of being socially included to which the children indicated their level of agreement on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analyses suggested that the higher the normalized singing development rating, the more positive the child's self-concept and sense of being socially included, irrespective of singer age, sex and ethnicity.

  19. Body weight and food intake in Parkinson's disease. A review of the association to non-motor symptoms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aiello, Marilena; Eleopra, Roberto; Rumiati, Raffella I

    2015-01-01

    Research on eating behaviours has extensively highlighted that cognitive systems interact with the metabolic system in driving food intake and in influencing body weight regulation. Parkinson's disease is a good model for studying these complex interactions since alterations in both body weight and cognitive domains have been frequently reported among these patients. Interestingly, even if different non-motor symptoms may characterize the course of the disease, their contribution to weight and food preference has been poorly investigated. This review describes body weight alterations and eating habits in patients with Parkinson's disease, including those who underwent deep brain stimulation surgery. In particular, the review considers the link between non-motor symptoms, affecting sensory perception, cognition, mood and motivation, and food intake and weight alterations. The take home message is twofold. First, we recommend a comprehensive approach in order to develop effective strategies in the management of patients' weight. Second, we also suggest that investigating this issue in patients with Parkinson's disease may provide some useful information about the mechanisms underlying food and weight regulation in healthy subjects. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Body plethysmography in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yogesh Satyendra Gupta

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD is the fourth most common cause of death in the world, for which smoking is a common cause. It is preferable to diagnose COPD at an earlier stage and to assess its progression so that mortality and morbidity of the disease could be reduced. Hence, we conducted this study to assess parameters of body plethysmography in Indian population where the data are lacking and to assess whether the use of body plethysmography can detect COPD earlier. Subjects and Methods: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee at B. J Government Medical College, Pune. In this comparative randomized cross-sectional study, healthy control subjects (CN, smokers without COPD diagnosis (SM who were smoking for more than 5 pack-years and smokers with COPD who were further classified depending upon GOLD criteria as mild COPD (C1, moderate COPD (C2, and severe COPD (C3 (n = 30 each group were considered. All the participants were males who gave written informed consent. Subject underwent routine spirometry (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, and FEF25-75% along with body plethysmography where sGaweff, sGawtot, residual volume (RV, total lung capacity (TLC, and inspiratory capacity (IC were recorded. Statistical Analysis: The differences in lung function were compared between healthy controls and smokers and also between the three groups of COPD severity (GOLD guidelines employing univariate analysis of variance and Bonferroni's post hoc test. Results: Spirometry could not differentiate between smokers without COPD and healthy controls. However, three parameters on body plethysmography (IC, sGawtot, and sGaweff were sensitive enough to detect differences between smokers without COPD and healthy controls. Conclusion: Using body plethysmography, the vexed question troubling the clinician, which of the smokers progress to COPD and who do not before they develop irreversible changes can perhaps be answered if further large

  1. Mortality and Causes of Death in Patients with Sporadic Inclusion Body Myositis: Survey Study Based on the Clinical Experience of Specialists in Australia, Europe and the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Mark A.; Barghout, Victoria; Benveniste, Olivier; Christopher-Stine, Lisa; Corbett, Alastair; de Visser, Marianne; Hilton-Jones, David; Kissel, John T.; Lloyd, Thomas E.; Lundberg, Ingrid E.; Mastaglia, Francis; Mozaffar, Tahseen; Needham, Merrilee; Schmidt, Jens; Sivakumar, Kumaraswamy; DeMuro, Carla; Tseng, Brian S.

    2016-01-01

    Background: There is a paucity of data on mortality and causes of death (CoDs) in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM), a rare, progressive, degenerative, inflammatory myopathy that typically affects those aged over 50 years. Objective: Based on patient records and expertise of clinical specialists, this study used questionnaires to evaluate physicians’ views on clinical characteristics of sIBM that may impact on premature mortality and CoDs in these patients. Methods: Thirteen physicians from seven countries completed two questionnaires online between December 20, 2012 and January 15, 2013. Responses to the first questionnaire were collated and presented in the second questionnaire to seek elaboration and identify consensus. Results: All 13 physicians completed both questionnaires, providing responses based on 585 living and 149 deceased patients under their care. Patients were reported to have experienced dysphagia (60.2%) and injurious falls (44.3%) during their disease. Over half of physicians reported that a subset of their patients with sIBM had a shortened lifespan (8/13), and agreed that bulbar dysfunction/dysphagia/oropharyngeal involvement (12/13), early-onset disease (8/13), severe symptoms (8/13), and falls (7/13) impacted lifespan. Factors related to sIBM were reported as CoDs in 40% of deceased patients. Oropharyngeal muscle dysfunction was ranked as the leading feature of sIBM that could contribute to death. The risk of premature mortality was higher than the age-matched comparison population. Conclusions: In the absence of data from traditional sources, this study suggests that features of sIBM may contribute to premature mortality and may be used to inform future studies. PMID:27854208

  2. Diversity in C-Xanes Spectra Obtained from Carbonaceous Solid Inclusions from Monahans Halite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kebukawa, Y.; Zolensky, M. E.; Fries, M.; Kilcoyne, A. L. D.; Rahman, Z.; Cody, G. D.

    2014-01-01

    . The natures of the macromolecular carbon in the solid inclusions observed by C-XANES are consistent with the previous studies showing that the carbonaceous solid inclusions have not originated from Monahans parent body [1-3], and have various origins, including various chondritic meteorite parent bodies as well as other unknown source(s).

  3. Clinical and pathological study on early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Orimo, Satoshi

    2008-01-01

    [ 123 I] Meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) myocardial scintigraphy has been used to evaluate postganglionic cardiac sympathetic innervation in heart diseases and some neurological disorders. To see clinical usefulness of MIBG myocardial scintigraphy to differentiate Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from related movement disorders and Alzheimer disease (AD), we performed MIBG myocardial scintigraphy in patients with these disorders. Cardiac uptake of MIBG is specifically reduced in PD and DLB, and this imaging approach is a sensitive diagnostic tool that possibly differentiates PD and DLB from related movement disorders and AD. To see pathological basis of the reduced cardiac uptake of MIBG in Lewy body disease, we immunohistichemically examined cardiac tissues from patients with PD, DLB, related movement disorders and AD using antibodies against tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and phosphorylated neurofilament (NF). Not only TH- but also NF-immunoreactive (ir) axons in the epicardial nerve fascicles were markedly decreased in Lewy body disease, namely cardiac sympathetic denervation, which accounts for the reduced cardiac uptake of MIBG in Lewy body disease. Patients with PD and DLB have Lewy bodies (LBs) in the nervous system, whereas patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, parkin-associated PD and AD have no LBs in the nervous system. Even in patients with MSA, cardiac sympathetic denervation was associated with the presence of LBs. Therefore, cardiac sympathetic denervation is closely related to the presence of LBs in a wide range of neurodegenerative processes. Taken together, we conclude that the reduced cardiac uptake of MIBG is a potential biomarker for the presence of LBs. Because α-synuclein is one of the key molecules in the pathogenesis of PD, we further investigate how α-synuclein aggregates are involved in degeneration of the cardiac sympathetic nerve in PD. We

  4. What lysosomes actually tell us about Parkinson's disease?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourdenx, Mathieu; Dehay, Benjamin

    2016-12-01

    Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder of unknown origin mainly characterized by the loss of neuromelanin-containing dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the presence of intraneuronal proteinaceous inclusions called Lewy bodies. Lysosomes are dynamic organelles that degrade, in a controlled manner, cellular components delivered via the secretory, endocytic, autophagic and phagocytic membrane-trafficking pathways. Increasing amounts of evidence suggest a central role of lysosomal impairment in PD aetiology. This review provides an update on how genetic evidence support this connection and highlights how the neuropathologic and mechanistic evidence might relate to the disease process in sporadic forms of Parkinson's disease. Finally, we discuss the influence of ageing on lysosomal impairment and PD aetiology and therapeutic strategies targeting lysosomal function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Adult polyglucosan body disease presenting as a unilateral progressive plexopathy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naddaf, Elie; Kassardjian, Charles D; Kurt, Yasemin Gulcan; Akman, Hasan Orhan; Windebank, Anthony J

    2016-06-01

    Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) usually presents with progressive spastic paraparesis, neurogenic bladder, and distal lower limb sensory abnormalities. It is caused by mutations in the glycogen branching enzyme gene (GBE1). We describe a woman with an unusual phenotype manifesting as progressive left brachial more than lumbosacral plexopathies, with central sensory and corticospinal tract involvement. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and cervical spine showed abnormal T2 signal within the ventral pons and medulla bilaterally, involving the pyramidal tracts and the medial leminisci. There was also medullary and cervical spine atrophy. On nerve biopsy, large polyglucosan bodies were noted in the endoneurium. The patient was found to be compound heterozygous for 2 novel mutations in GBE1. Peripheral blood leukocyte GBE activity was markedly reduced to 7% of normal, confirming the diagnosis of APBD. In this report we describe a new phenotype of APBD associated with 2 novel mutations. Muscle Nerve 53: 976-981, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Integrated process development-a robust, rapid method for inclusion body harvesting and processing at the microscale level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walther, Cornelia; Kellner, Martin; Berkemeyer, Matthias; Brocard, Cécile; Dürauer, Astrid

    2017-10-21

    Escherichia coli stores large amounts of highly pure product within inclusion bodies (IBs). To take advantage of this beneficial feature, after cell disintegration, the first step to optimal product recovery is efficient IB preparation. This step is also important in evaluating upstream optimization and process development, due to the potential impact of bioprocessing conditions on product quality and on the nanoscale properties of IBs. Proper IB preparation is often neglected, due to laboratory-scale methods requiring large amounts of materials and labor. Miniaturization and parallelization can accelerate analyses of individual processing steps and provide a deeper understanding of up- and downstream processing interdependencies. Consequently, reproducible, predictive microscale methods are in demand. In the present study, we complemented a recently established high-throughput cell disruption method with a microscale method for preparing purified IBs. This preparation provided results comparable to laboratory-scale IB processing, regarding impurity depletion, and product loss. Furthermore, with this method, we performed a "design of experiments" study to demonstrate the influence of fermentation conditions on the performance of subsequent downstream steps and product quality. We showed that this approach provided a 300-fold reduction in material consumption for each fermentation condition and a 24-fold reduction in processing time for 24 samples.

  7. Approaching Inclusion as Social Practice: Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Molbæk, Mette; Hansen, Janne Hedegaard; Lassen, Mikkel

    2018-01-01

    The article presents the results of a review of international research investigating mechanisms and processes of inclusion and exclusion as an ongoing part of social practice in a school context. The review forms part of a research project investigating the social practices of inclusive education...... in primary and lower-secondary education (age 6–16) in public schools as constituted by processes of inclusion and exclusion. The project aims to shift the scientific focus of research in inclusive education from the development of pedagogical and didactic practice to the importance of community construction...... through inclusion and exclusion processes. The project arises in context of Danish education policy, while the review looked for international research findings on the limits between inclusion and exclusion: how they are drawn, by whom, for what reasons, and for whose benefit? On the background...

  8. Inclusion of liver in meat products from sheep

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. H. Borghi

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical (pH, color, water retention capacity, cooking losses, shear force, iron content, and lipid oxidation and sensory characteristics of koftas and sausages prepared from lamb meat and enriched with sheep liver. Meat from eight lambs weaned at 60 days and slaughtered at a body weight of 32.0 ± 0.2 kg was used. Percentages of 10 and 20% sheep liver were included in koftas and of 15 and 30% in sausages. A completely randomized experimental design was used and the data were submitted to analysis of variance and regression. The inclusion of liver in koftas linearly increased pH (P=0.001 and shear force (P=0.028, and reduced luminosity (P=0.005 and lipid oxidation at the time of (P=0.001 and 24 hours after (P=0.004 fabrication of the products. In sausages, the inclusion of liver linearly increased shear force (P=0.03. The inclusion of liver exerted decreasing linear effects on the scores related to the flavor of kofta and sausage products (P=0.001 and 0.033, respectively and a quadratic effect (P=0.008 on the overall acceptance of sausages. Although the inclusion of liver altered some relevant quality-related attributes of sheep koftas and sausages, the physicochemical and sensory characteristics were not compromised.

  9. Immunotherapy targeting α-synuclein, with relevance for future treatment of Parkinson's disease and other Lewy body disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindström, Veronica; Ihse, Elisabet; Fagerqvist, Therese; Bergström, Joakim; Nordström, Eva; Möller, Christer; Lannfelt, Lars; Ingelsson, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Immunotherapy targeting α-synuclein has evolved as a potential therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, and initial studies on cellular and animal models have shown promising results. α-synuclein vaccination of transgenic mice reduced the number of brain inclusions, whereas passive immunization studies demonstrated that antibodies against the C-terminus of α-synuclein can pass the blood-brain barrier and affect the pathology. In addition, preliminary evidence suggests that transgenic mice treated with an antibody directed against α-synuclein oligomers/protofibrils resulted in reduced levels of such species in the CNS. The underlying mechanisms of immunotherapy are not yet fully understood, but may include antibody-mediated clearance of pre-existing aggregates, prevention of protein propagation between cells and microglia-dependent protein clearance. Thus, immunotherapy targeting α-synuclein holds promise, but needs to be further developed as a future disease-modifying treatment in Parkinson's disease and other α-synucleinopathies.

  10. Limits to Inclusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Janne Hedegaard

    2012-01-01

    In this article, I will argue that a theoretical identification of the limit to inclusion is needed in the conceptual identification of inclusion. On the one hand, inclusion is formulated as a vision that is, in principle, limitless. On the other hand, there seems to be an agreement that inclusion has a limit in the pedagogical practice. However,…

  11. Volatile elements in Allende inclusions. [Mn, Na and Cl relation to meteorite evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grossman, L.; Ganapathy, R.

    1975-01-01

    New data are presented on the relatively volatile elements (Mn, Na, and Cl) in coarse- and fine-grained Ca/Al-rich inclusions of different textures and mineralogy in the Allende meteorite. It is shown that the coarse-grained inclusions condensed from the solar nebula at high temperature and contained vanishingly small quantities of volatile elements at that time. Later, volatiles were added to these during the metamorphism of the Allende parent body. The fine-grained inclusions were also affected by the addition of volatiles during this metamorphism but, unlike the coarse-grained ones, they incorporated large amounts of volatiles when they condensed from the solar nebula, accounting for their higher volatile element contents.

  12. The study of fMRI in Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and Lewy bodies dementia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Bing; Xu Jun; Xu Yun; Zhu Bin

    2010-01-01

    Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are the main type of neuro degenerative diseases, but the FTD and DLB are always confused with AD. Structural MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy have the potential to support the diagnosis of AD and the relative disease. Brain atrophy pattern, apparent diffusion coefficient and fractional anisotropy pattern, the distribution mode of N-acetylaspartate and myo-inositol in temporal lobe, hippocampus, parietal lobe, frontal lobe could help to differentiate AD from FTD, DLB and those patterns are in accordance with the pathological changes. (authors)

  13. Inclusive Business - What It Is All About? Managing Inclusive Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tea Golja

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Following the challenges we face today, the inclusive business models are future business models through which the Millennium Development Goals can be fostered and strengthen. These are the models which, through their strategic orientation on inclusivity, include low income communities in their value chain. This can be done through combining variety of strategies which all have two common points – recognition of stakeholders and adjustment of the product to the target market. The paper presents the analysis of inclusive markets. Hence, the research results show the dispersion of inclusive businesses worldwide, type of the organization, sector coverage, and contribution to MDGs as well as the particular way of inclusion of low income communities in their value chain. The aim is to present how inclusive business benefits not only the low income societies, but the companies that operate in this way as well.

  14. Recovery of inclusions in 2D and 3D domains for Poisson’s equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ito, Kazufumi; Liu, Ji-Chuan

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the recovery problem of inclusions in three-dimensional and three-dimensional domains for Poisson’s equation from noisy observation data. We propose effective reconstruction algorithms to recover hidden inclusions within a body when one can only make measurements of voltage and current on the external boundary. Our motivation is to detect the number, the location, the size and the shape of inclusions. This problem is nonlinear and severely ill posed, thus we should apply regularization techniques in our approaches in order to improve the corresponding approximation. We give several examples to show the viability of our proposed methods. (paper)

  15. A novel method to characterize silica bodies in grasses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dabney, Clemon; Ostergaard, Jason; Watkins, Eric; Chen, Changbin

    2016-01-01

    The deposition of silicon into epidermal cells of grass species is thought to be an important mechanism that plants use as a defense against pests and environmental stresses. There are a number of techniques available to study the size, density and distribution pattern of silica bodies in grass leaves. However, none of those techniques can provide a high-throughput analysis, especially for a great number of samples. We developed a method utilizing the autofluorescence of silica bodies to investigate their size and distribution, along with the number of carbon inclusions within the silica bodies of perennial grass species Koeleria macrantha. Fluorescence images were analyzed by image software Adobe Photoshop CS5 or ImageJ that remarkably facilitated the quantification of silica bodies in the dry ash. We observed three types of silica bodies or silica body related mineral structures. Silica bodies were detected on both abaxial and adaxial epidermis of K. macrantha leaves, although their sizes, density, and distribution patterns were different. No auto-fluorescence was detected from carbon inclusions. The combination of fluorescence microscopy and image processing software displayed efficient utilization in the identification and quantification of silica bodies in K. macrantha leaf tissues, which should applicable to biological, ecological and geological studies of grasses including forage, turf grasses and cereal crops.

  16. Designing Inclusive Systems Designing Inclusion for Real-world Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Clarkson, John; Robinson, Peter; Lazar, Jonathan; Heylighen, Ann

    2012-01-01

    The Cambridge Workshops on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT) are a series of workshops held at a Cambridge University College every two years. The workshop theme: “Designing inclusion for real-world applications” refers to the emerging potential and relevance of the latest generations of inclusive design thinking, tools, techniques, and data, to mainstream project applications such as healthcare and the design of working environments. Inclusive Design Research involves developing tools and guidance enabling product designers to design for the widest possible population, for a given range of capabilities. There are five main themes: •Designing for the Real-World •Measuring Demand And Capabilities •Designing Cognitive Interaction with Emerging Technologies •Design for Inclusion •Designing Inclusive Architecture In the tradition of CWUAAT, we have solicited and accepted contributions over a wide range of topics, both within individual themes and also across the workshop’s scope. ...

  17. Whole-body muscle MRI in 20 patients suffering from late onset Pompe disease: Involvement patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlier, Robert-Yves; Laforet, Pascal; Wary, Claire; Mompoint, Dominique; Laloui, Kenza; Pellegrini, Nadine; Annane, Djillali; Carlier, Pierre G; Orlikowski, David

    2011-11-01

    To describe muscle involvement on whole-body MRI scans in adult patients at different stages of late-onset Pompe disease. Twenty patients aged 37 to 75 were examined. Five were bedridden and required ventilatory support. Axial and coronal T1 turbo-spin-echo sequences were performed on 1.5T or 3T systems. MRI was scored for 47 muscles using Mercuri's classification. Whole-body scans were obtained with a mean in-room time of 29 min. Muscle changes consisted of internal bright signals of fatty replacement without severe retraction of the muscles' corpus. Findings were consistent with previous descriptions of spine extensors and pelvic girdle, but also provided new information on recurrent muscle changes particularly in the tongue and subscapularis muscle. Moreover thigh involvement was more heterogeneous than previously described, in terms of distribution across muscles as well as with respect to the overall clinical presentation. Whole-body MRI provides a very evocative description of muscle involvement in Pompe disease in adults. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Numerical studies of the deformation of salt bodies with embedded carbonate stringers

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Shiyuan

    2012-01-01

    Many salt bodies contain large carbonate or anhydrite inclusions (so-called rafts, floaters or stringers) and these respond to the movements of the salt in a variety of ways, including displacement, folding and fracturing. The process of the movement and deformation of salt bodies and embedded carbonate or anhydrite inclusions has not been fully understood. In particular, no numerical research has been done to simulate the brittle deformation of individual stringers in the initial phases of s...

  19. Singing and social inclusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Graham F.; Himonides, Evangelos; Saunders, Jo; Papageorgi, Ioulia; Sarazin, Marc

    2014-01-01

    There is a growing body of neurological, cognitive, and social psychological research to suggest the possibility of positive transfer effects from structured musical engagement. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that engagement in musical activities may impact on social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion are common concerns internationally, such as in the UK and the EC, and there are many diverse Government ministries and agencies globally that see the arts in general and music in particular as a key means by which social needs can be addressed. As part of a wider evaluation of a national, Government-sponsored music education initiative for Primary-aged children in England (“Sing Up”), opportunity was taken by the authors, at the request of the funders, to assess any possible relationship between (a) children's developing singing behavior and development and (b) their social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Subsequently, it was possible to match data from n = 6087 participants, drawn from the final 3 years of data collection (2008–2011), in terms of each child's individually assessed singing ability (based on their singing behavior of two well-known songs to create a “normalized singing score”) and their written responses to a specially-designed questionnaire that included a set of statements related to children's sense of being socially included to which the children indicated their level of agreement on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analyses suggested that the higher the normalized singing development rating, the more positive the child's self-concept and sense of being socially included, irrespective of singer age, sex and ethnicity. PMID:25120514

  20. Singing and social inclusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graham Frederick Welch

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing body of neurological, cognitive and social psychological research to suggest the possibility of positive transfer effects from structured musical engagement. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that engagement in musical activities may impact on social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated. Tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion are common concerns internationally, such as in the UK and the EC, and there are many diverse Government ministries and agencies globally that see the arts in general and music in particular as a key means by which social needs can be addressed. As part of a wider evaluation of a national, Government-sponsored music education initiative for Primary-aged children in England (‘Sing Up’, opportunity was taken by the authors, at the request of the funders, to assess any possible relationship between (a children’s developing singing behaviour and development and (b their social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated. Subsequently, it was possible to match data from n=6087 participants, drawn from the final three years of data collection (2008-2011, in terms of each child’s individually assessed singing ability (based on their singing behaviour of two well-known songs to create a 'normalised singing score' and their written responses to a specially-designed questionnaire that included a set of statements related to children’s sense of being socially included to which the children indicated their level of agreement on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analyses suggested that the higher the normalized singing development rating, the more positive the child’s self-concept and sense of being socially included, irrespective of singer age, sex and ethnicity.

  1. Dipyridamole Body Surface Potential Mapping: Noninvasive Differentiation of Syndrome X from Coronary Artery Disease

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Boudík, F.; Anger, Z.; Aschermann, M.; Vojáček, J.; Tomečková, Marie

    2002-01-01

    Roč. 35, č. 3 (2002), s. 181-191 ISSN 0022-0736 R&D Projects: GA MZd IZ4038 Keywords : body surface potential mapping * dipyridamole * coronary artery disease * syndrome X Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information Impact factor: 0.599, year: 2002

  2. Iron Isotopic Compositions of Troilite (FeS) Inclusions from Iron Meteorites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cook, David L.; Schönbächler, Maria, E-mail: david.cook@erdw.ethz.ch [Institut für Geochemie und Petrologie, ETH Zürich, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092 Zürich (Switzerland)

    2017-10-01

    We report non-mass-dependent Fe isotopic data for troilite (FeS) inclusions from 10 iron meteorites, representing both non-magmatic (IAB) and magmatic groups (IIAB, IIIAB, IVA). No resolvable variations are present in the most neutron-rich isotope ({sup 58}Fe), but small deficits (≈−0.1 ε ) in {sup 56}Fe were observed in several inclusions. With the exception of several Ca–Al-rich inclusions in primitive meteorites, these are the first reported non-mass-dependent variations in Fe isotopes for material formed in the early solar system. Nucleosynthetic variations in Ni isotopes were previously reported in these same samples. The effects in Fe isotopes are not correlated with those in Ni, which suggests that the origins of the isotopic variations are decoupled from one another. The {sup 56}Fe deficits may represent incomplete mixing of the precursor dust in the protoplanetary disk. Alternatively, a parent body process (e.g., irradiation by galactic cosmic rays) may have modified the Fe isotopic compositions of some inclusions, which initially had homogeneous Fe isotopic compositions.

  3. The scent of disease: human body odor contains an early chemosensory cue of sickness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsson, Mats J; Lundström, Johan N; Kimball, Bruce A; Gordon, Amy R; Karshikoff, Bianka; Hosseini, Nishteman; Sorjonen, Kimmo; Olgart Höglund, Caroline; Solares, Carmen; Soop, Anne; Axelsson, John; Lekander, Mats

    2014-03-01

    Observational studies have suggested that with time, some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual. Evolutionarily, however, it would be more advantageous if the innate immune response were detectable by healthy individuals as a first line of defense against infection by various pathogens, to optimize avoidance of contagion. We activated the innate immune system in healthy individuals by injecting them with endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide). Within just a few hours, endotoxin-exposed individuals had a more aversive body odor relative to when they were exposed to a placebo. Moreover, this effect was statistically mediated by the individuals' level of immune activation. This chemosensory detection of the early innate immune response in humans represents the first experimental evidence that disease smells and supports the notion of a "behavioral immune response" that protects healthy individuals from sick ones by altering patterns of interpersonal contact.

  4. TDP-43 in Familial and Sporadic Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration with Ubiquitin Inclusions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cairns, Nigel J.; Neumann, Manuela; Bigio, Eileen H.; Holm, Ida E.; Troost, Dirk; Hatanpaa, Kimmo J.; Foong, Chan; White, Charles L.; Schneider, Julie A.; Kretzschmar, Hans A.; Carter, Deborah; Taylor-Reinwald, Lisa; Paulsmeyer, Katherine; Strider, Jeffrey; Gitcho, Michael; Goate, Alison M.; Morris, John C.; Mishrall, Manjari; Kwong, Linda K.; Stieber, Anna; Xu, Yan; Forman, Mark S.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Lee, Virginia M.-Y.; Mackenzie, Ian R. A.

    2007-01-01

    TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a major pathological protein of sporadic and familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive, tau-negative inclusions (FTLD-U) with or without motor neuron disease (MND). Thus, TDP-43 defines a novel class of neurodegenerative diseases called

  5. Patient with rapidly evolving neurological disease with neuropathological lesions of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Lewy body dementia, chronic subcortical vascular encephalopathy and meningothelial meningioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vita, Maria Gabriella; Tiple, Dorina; Bizzarro, Alessandra; Ladogana, Anna; Colaizzo, Elisa; Capellari, Sabina; Rossi, Marcello; Parchi, Piero; Masullo, Carlo; Pocchiari, Maurizio

    2017-04-01

    We report a case of rapidly evolving neurological disease in a patient with neuropathological lesions of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), chronic subcortical vascular encephalopathy and meningothelial meningioma. The coexistence of severe multiple pathologies in a single patient strengthens the need to perform accurate clinical differential diagnoses in rapidly progressive dementias. © 2016 Japanese Society of Neuropathology.

  6. Frequency of nuclear mutant huntingtin inclusion formation in neurons and glia is cell-type-specific

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, Anne H. P.; van Hal, Maurik; Op den Kelder, Ilse C.; Meier, Romy T.; de Ruiter, Anna-Aster; Schut, Menno H.; Smith, Donna L.; Grit, Corien; Brouwer, Nieske; Kamphuis, Willem; Boddeke, H. W. G. M.; den Dunnen, Wilfred F. A.; van Roon, Willeke M. C.; Bates, Gillian P.; Hol, Elly M.; Reits, Eric A.

    2017-01-01

    Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by a CAG expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene, leading to HTT inclusion formation in the brain. The mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT) is ubiquitously expressed and therefore nuclear inclusions

  7. Frequency of Nuclear Mutant Huntingtin Inclusion Formation in Neurons and Glia is Cell-Type-Specific

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, Anne H P; van Hal, Maurik; op den Kelder, Ilse C.; Meier, Romy T.; de Ruiter, Anna-Aster; Schut, Menno H.; Smith, Donna L.; Grit, Corien; Brouwer, Nieske; Kamphuis, Willem; Boddeke, H. W. G. M.; den Dunnen, Wilfred F. A.; van Roon, Willeke M. C.; Bates, Gillian P.; Hol, Elly M.; Reits, Eric A.

    Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant inherited neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by a CAG expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene, leading to HTT inclusion formation in the brain. The mutant huntingtin protein (mHTT) is ubiquitously expressed and therefore nuclear inclusions

  8. Direct evidence for a chronic CD8+-T-cell-mediated immune reaction to tax within the muscle of a human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1-infected patient with sporadic inclusion body myositis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozden, Simona; Cochet, Madeleine; Mikol, Jacqueline; Teixeira, Antonio; Gessain, Antoine; Pique, Claudine

    2004-10-01

    Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection can lead to the development of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), concomitantly with or without other inflammatory disorders such as myositis. These pathologies are considered immune-mediated diseases, and it is assumed that migration within tissues of both HTLV-1-infected CD4(+) T cells and anti-HTLV-1 cytotoxic T cells represents a pivotal event. However, although HTLV-1-infected T cells were found in inflamed lesions, the antigenic specificity of coinfiltrated CD8(+) T cells remains to be determined. In this study, we performed both ex vivo and in situ analyses using muscle biopsies obtained from an HTLV-1-infected patient with HAM/TSP and sporadic inclusion body myositis. We found that both HTLV-1-infected CD4(+) T cells and CD8(+) T cells directed to the dominant Tax antigen can be amplified from muscle cell cultures. Moreover, we were able to detect in two successive muscle biopsies both tax mRNA-positive mononuclear cells and T cells recognized by the Tax11-19/HLA-A*02 tetramer and positive for perforin. These findings provide the first direct demonstration that anti-Tax cytotoxic T cells are chronically recruited within inflamed tissues of an HTLV-1 infected patient, which validates the cytotoxic immune reaction model for the pathogenesis of HTLV-1-associated inflammatory disease.

  9. Body composition and dietary intake in neoplasic disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cohn, S.H.; Gartenhaus, W.; Vartsky, D.; Sawitsky, A.; Zanzi, I.; Vaswani, A.; Yasummure, S.; Rai, K.; Cartes, E.; Ellis, K.J.

    1981-01-01

    Changes in body composition in 37 cancer patients were studied over a period of 6 months. Initially, the patients were divided into two groups: those who lost body weight (over 10%) and those who maintained or gained body weight before the study. Analysis of body composition indicated that patients who lost body weight has caloric and protein intakes markedly below ''normal'' levels at the beginning of the study. There also appears to be a direct relationship between the protein intake and the total body potassium/total body water ratio in the cancer patients. At the end of the 6-month study, the patients were again placed into two groups on the basis of weight loss or gain (and maintenance). Changes in body composition over the period were analyzed in terms of lean body mass, its protein constituent, water, and fat. Weight loss was found to reflect primarily the loss of fat, water, lean body mass (potassium), and only to a minor extent the protein component of lean body mass (nitrogen). Further, on the basis of the values of the ratios of total body nitrogen/total body potassium/total body water, it was possible to ascertain the relative normalcy of the body tissue gained or lost in the 6-month period. The results of the study suggest that the ratio total body nitrogen/total body potassium may serve as the best indicator of recent or ongoing catabolism or anabolism of the neoplastic process. By means of the application of the techniques used for the determination of body composition, it should be possible to assess regimes of hyperalimentation of cancer patients who lose body weight

  10. Reassessment of inclusion body-based production as a versatile opportunity for difficult-to-express recombinant proteins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, Daniel; Ebrahimi, Mehrdad; Gerlach, Doreen; Salzig, Denise; Czermak, Peter

    2017-11-10

    The production of recombinant proteins in the microbial host Escherichia coli often results in the formation of cytoplasmic protein inclusion bodies (IBs). Proteins forming IBs are often branded as difficult-to-express, neglecting that IBs can be an opportunity for their production. IBs are resistant to proteolytic degradation and contain up to 90% pure recombinant protein, which does not interfere with the host metabolism. This is especially advantageous for host-toxic proteins like antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). IBs can be easily isolated by cell disruption followed by filtration and/or centrifugation, but conventional techniques for the recovery of soluble proteins from IBs are laborious. New approaches therefore simplify protein recovery by optimizing the production process conditions, and often include mild resolubilization methods that either increase the yield after refolding or avoid the necessity of refolding all together. For the AMP production, the IB-based approach is ideal, because these peptides often have simple structures and are easy to refold. The intentional IB production of almost every protein can be achieved by fusing recombinant proteins to pull-down tags. This review discusses the techniques available for IB-based protein production before considering technical approaches for the isolation of IBs from E. coli lysates followed by efficient protein resolubilization which ideally omits further refolding. The techniques are evaluated in terms of their suitability for the process-scale production and downstream processing of recombinant proteins and are discussed for AMP production as an example.

  11. Lewy Body Dementia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewy body dementia Overview Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease dementia. Protein deposits, ...

  12. Thermal gradient brine inclusion migration in salt study: gas-liquid inclusions, preliminary model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olander, D.R.; Machiels, A.J.

    1979-10-01

    Natural salt deposits contain small cubical inclusions of brine distributed through the salt. Temperature gradients, resulting from storing heat-generating wastes in the salt, can cause the inclusions to move through the salt. Prediction of the rate and amount of brine-inclusion migration is necessary for the evaluation of bedded or domed salts as possible media for waste repositories. Inclusions filled exclusively with liquid migrate up the temperature gradient towards the heat source. The solubility of salt in the brine inclusion increases with temperature. Consequently, salt dissolves into the inclusion across the hot surface and crystallizes out at the cold surface. Diffusion of salt within the liquid phase from the hot to the cold faces causes the inclusions to move in the opposite direction. In so doing, they change shape and eventually become rectangular parallelipipeds with a width (dimension perpendicular to the thermal gradient) much larger than the thickness (dimension in the direction of the thermal gradient). The inclusions may also contain a gas phase predominantly consisting of water vapor. These entities are termed two-phase or gas-liquid inclusions. The two-phase inclusions usually migrate down the temperature gradient away from the heat source remaining more-or-less cubical. A two-phase inclusion also forms when an all-liquid inclusion reaches the waste package; upon opening up at the salt-package interface, the brine partially evaporates and the inclusion reseals with some insoluble gas trapped inside. These gas-liquid inclusions proceed to move down the temperature gradient, in the opposite sense of the all-liquid inclusions. The gas-liquid inclusions phenomenon provides a pathway by which radionuclides leached from the wasteform by the brine can be transported away from the waste package and thus might have greater access to the biosphere

  13. Inclusive Education in Italy: Description and Reflections on Full Inclusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anastasiou, Dimitris; Kauffman, James M.; Di Nuovo, Santo

    2015-01-01

    Inclusion of students with disabilities when appropriate is an important goal of special education for students with special needs. Full inclusion, meaning no education for any child in a separate setting, is held to be desirable by some, and Italy is likely the nation with an education system most closely approximating full inclusion on the…

  14. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Mimicking Alzheimer Disease and Dementia With Lewy Bodies-Findings of FDG PET With 3-Dimensional Stereotactic Surface Projection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyazawa, Nobuhiko

    2017-05-01

    A 78-year-old man received a diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease based on symptoms and findings of MRI, FDG PET, and cerebrospinal fluid markers. PET with 3-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) showed that the distribution of hypometabolism mimicked that of Alzheimer disease. A 68-year-old woman was treated under a diagnosis of convulsion. Findings of MRI, PET, familial history, and cerebrospinal fluid markers revealed familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. FDG PET with 3D-SSP disclosed that the hypometabolic pattern mimicked that of dementia with Lewy bodies. FDG PET with 3D-SSP can demonstrate similar patterns in various neurodegenerative disorders.

  15. Impact of enteral supplements enriched with omega-3 fatty acids and/or omega-6 fatty acids, arginine and ribonucleic acid compounds on leptin levels and nutritional status in active Crohn's disease treated with prednisolone

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, A.A.; Nielsen, J.N.; Grønbæk, Henning

    2007-01-01

    treatment and tapering. METHODS: Thirty-one CD patients were randomized to IP Extra (group 1) or IP Standard (group 2). Leptin levels, nutritional, clinical and biochemical markers were studied at inclusion, after 5 and after 9 weeks of the study. RESULTS: Leptin levels, body mass index (BMI) and total......BACKGROUND: Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) often develop malnutrition due to disease activity. We aimed to assess the effect of two different enteral supplements of Impact(R) Powder (IP; Novartis, Switzerland) on leptin levels and nutritional status in active CD patients during prednisolone...... cholesterol increased significantly within both groups at week 5 compared to inclusion. Leptin levels correlated with BMI in both groups at inclusion and in group 2 at week 9. In group 1, triglyceride levels remained unchanged, while levels in group 2 increased significantly at week 5 compared to inclusion...

  16. Evaluation of nutritional indicators and body composition in patients with advanced liver disease enrolled for liver transplantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vulcano, Daniela Salate Biagioni; Carvalhaes, Maria Antonieta de Barros Leite; Bakonyi Neto, Alexandre

    2013-10-01

    Malnutrition is prevalent in patients with advanced liver disease (LD) related to multifactorial causes. Fluid retention can underestimate the nutritional status based on anthropometric measures. We evaluated nutritional indicators and body composition (BC) in patients with liver cirrhosis and correlated them with LD severity. Forty three patients with LD enrolled for liver transplantation were evaluated by Anthropometric measures, subjective evaluation (Global Assessment of Nutritional Status - SGA) and biochemical indicators. Single-frequency electrical bioimpedance (SFE-BIA) was used to evaluate body composition (BC). It measured resistance (R), reactance (Xc) and the phase angle (PA). LD severity was estimated by Child-Pugh and Meld criteria (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease). Child-Pugh index between patients was 7.11 ± 1.70 and Meld was 12.23 ± 4.22. Arm Circumference, Arm Muscle Circumference and Arm Muscle Area, SGA, hemoglobin, hematocrit and albumin showed better correlation with disease severity. Xc and PA showed correlation both with Meld and Child-Pugh score when BC were evaluated. PA was depleted in 55.8% of the patients. Diagnosis of malnutrition varied according to the method. Global assessment of nutritional status showed better correlation with disease severity than with objective methods. Single-frequency electrical bioimpedance for body composition analysis in cirrhotic patients must be cautiously used; however, primary vectors seems to be valid and promising in clinical practice.

  17. Delimiting Inclusive Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herriott, Richard

    2014-01-01

    This paper was written as an answer to the question raised by my PhD dissertation on accessibility through user-centred and Inclusive Design (ID) methods: can Inclusive Design be delimited? The literature on Inclusive Design deals almost entrirely with consumer product design and assistive...

  18. The prediction of lean body mass and fat mass from arm anthropometry at diagnosis in children with cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webber, Colin; Halton, Jacqueline; Walker, Scott; Young, Andrea; Barr, Ronald D

    2013-10-01

    Maintenance of adequate nutrition is important in the care of children with cancer. In clinical practice, determination of nutritional status can be accomplished with measurement of body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). However, DXA is seldom available in low-income countries where most children with cancer live. This study sought to provide predictive equations for lean body mass and fat mass, measured by DXA, on the basis of simple arm anthropometry providing measures of mid-upper arm circumference and triceps skin-fold thickness in a population (N=99) of children diagnosed with cancer. Such equations were derived successfully with the inclusion of absolute body weight, the body weight Z-score, and the predicted whole-body bone mineral content on the basis of age and sex. Attempted validation in a small sample (N=7) of children who completed therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia revealed disparities reflective of the prevalence of obesity in such survivors. Further validation must be undertaken in large samples of children with a variety of malignant diseases to assess the robustness of the equations predictive of body composition.

  19. Genetic parameters for energy balance, fat /protein ratio, body condition score and disease traits in German Holstein cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buttchereit, N; Stamer, E; Junge, W; Thaller, G

    2012-08-01

    Various health problems in dairy cows have been related to the magnitude and duration of the energy deficit post partum. Energy balance indicator traits like fat/protein ratio in milk and body condition score could be used in selection programmes to help predicting breeding values for health traits, but currently there is a lack of appropriate genetic parameters. Therefore, genetic correlations among energy balance, fat/protein ratio, and body condition score, and mastitis, claw and leg diseases, and metabolic disorders were estimated using linear and threshold models on data from 1693 primiparous cows recorded within the first 180 days in milk. Average daily energy balance, milk fat/protein ratio and body condition score were 8 MJ NEL, 1.13 and 2.94, respectively. Disease frequencies (% cows with at least one case) were 24.6% for mastitis, 9.7% for metabolic disorders and 28.2% for claw and leg diseases. Heritability estimates were 0.06, 0.30 and 0.34 for energy balance, fat/protein ratio and body condition score, respectively. For the disease traits, heritabilities ranged between 0.04 and 0.15. The genetic correlations were, in general, associated with large standard errors, but, although not significant, the results suggest that an improvement of overall health can be expected if energy balance traits are included into future breeding programmes. A low fat/protein ratio might serve as an indicator for metabolic stability and health of claw and legs. Between body condition and mastitis, a significant negative correlation of -0.40 was estimated. The study provides a new insight into the role energy balance traits can play as auxiliary traits for robustness of dairy cows. It was concluded that both, fat/protein ratio and body condition score, are potential variables to describe how well cows can adapt to the challenge of early lactation. However, the genetic parameters should be re-estimated on a more comprehensive data set. © 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  20. Whole body bone scintigraphy in tenofovir-related osteomalacia: a case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Biagio Antonio

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Viread® is the only nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor currently approved for the treatment of HIV. It is frequently prescribed not only for its efficacy but also for its decreased side effect profile compared with other nucleotide analogs. In addition, it is now increasingly recognized as a cause of acquired Fanconi's syndrome in individuals with HIV. Case presentation We describe a 48-year-old woman infected with HIV, with chronic renal insufficiency, who developed Fanconi's syndrome after inclusion of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in her antiretroviral therapy. A whole body bone scintigraphy was performed, revealing an abnormal distribution of radiotracer uptake, with characteristic changes compatible with osteomalacia. All symptoms disappeared after tenofovir discontinuation and mineral supplementation. No other explanation for the sudden and complete resolution of the bone disease was found. Conclusion The case highlights the role of whole body bone scintigraphy in the diagnosis of tenofovir-related osteomalacia.

  1. Neuroprotective and Therapeutic Strategies against Parkinson’s Disease: Recent Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumit Sarkar

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Parkinsonism is a progressive motor disease that affects 1.5 million Americans and is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. Typical neuropathological features of Parkinson’s disease (PD include degeneration of dopaminergic neurons located in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra that project to the striatum (nigro-striatal pathway and depositions of cytoplasmic fibrillary inclusions (Lewy bodies which contain ubiquitin and α-synuclein. The cardinal motor signs of PD are tremors, rigidity, slow movement (bradykinesia, poor balance, and difficulty in walking (Parkinsonian gait. In addition to motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms that include autonomic and psychiatric as well as cognitive impairments are pressing issues that need to be addressed. Several different mechanisms play an important role in generation of Lewy bodies; endoplasmic reticulum (ER stress induced unfolded proteins, neuroinflammation and eventual loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of mid brain in PD. Moreover, these diverse processes that result in PD make modeling of the disease and evaluation of therapeutics against this devastating disease difficult. Here, we will discuss diverse mechanisms that are involved in PD, neuroprotective and therapeutic strategies currently in clinical trial or in preclinical stages, and impart views about strategies that are promising to mitigate PD pathology.

  2. Applying chaperones to protein-misfolding disorders: molecular chaperones against α-synuclein in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaari, Ali; Hoarau-Véchot, Jessica; Ladjimi, Moncef

    2013-09-01

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of a protein called α-synuclein (α-syn) into inclusions known as lewy bodies (LB) within neurons. This accumulation is also due to insufficient formation and activity of dopamine produced in certain neurons within the substantia nigra. Lewy bodies are the pathological hallmark of the idiopathic disorder and the cascade that allows α-synuclein to misfold, aggregate and form these inclusions has been the subject of intensive research. Targeting these early steps of oligomerization is one of the main therapeutic approaches in order to develop neurodegenerative-modifying agents. Because the folding and refolding of alpha synuclein is the key point of this cascade, we are interested in this review to summarize the role of some molecular chaperones proteins such as Hsp70, Hsp90 and small heat shock proteins (sHsp) and Hsp 104. Hsp70 and its co-chaperone, Hsp70 and small heat shock proteins can prevent neurodegeneration by preventing α-syn misfolding, oligomerization and aggregation in vitro and in Parkinson disease animal models. Hsp104 is able to resolve disordered protein aggregates and cross beta amyloid conformers. Together, these chaperones have a complementary effect and can be a target for therapeutic intervention in PD. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  3. Social imaginaries and inclusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Janne Hedegaard

    2016-01-01

    that inclusion on the one hand may be seen to be about human rights, solidarity, and democracy, and on the other hand, it is about ensuring the cohesion of neoliberal society by means of every person’s obligation to realize one’s potential through learning, development, and education regardless of one’s needs......, the development of inclusive schools and inclusive learning environments will involve both inclusion and exclusion processes. With this starting point, international educational research knowledge about inclusive schools and inclusive learning environments in general will be related to the fundamental dilemma...

  4. Gender, body mass index and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity: results from the QUEST-RA Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jawaheer, D; Olsen, J; Lahiff, M; Forsberg, S; Lähteenmäki, J; da Silveira, I G; Rocha, F A; Magalhães Laurindo, I M; Henrique da Mota, L M; Drosos, A A; Murphy, E; Sheehy, C; Quirke, E; Cutolo, M; Rexhepi, S; Dadoniene, J; Verstappen, S M M; Sokka, T

    2010-01-01

    To investigate whether body mass index (BMI), as a proxy for body fat, influences rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in a gender-specific manner. Consecutive patients with RA were enrolled from 25 countries into the QUEST-RA program between 2005 and 2008. Clinical and demographic data were collected by treating rheumatologists and by patient self-report. Distributions of Disease Activity Scores (DAS28), BMI, age, and disease duration were assessed for each country and for the entire dataset; mean values between genders were compared using Student's t-tests. An association between BMI and DAS28 was investigated using linear regression, adjusting for age, disease duration and country. A total of 5,161 RA patients (4,082 women and 1,079 men) were included in the analyses. Overall, women were younger, had longer disease duration, and higher DAS28 scores than men, but BMI was similar between genders. The mean DAS28 scores increased with increasing BMI from normal to overweight and obese, among women, whereas the opposite trend was observed among men. Regression results showed BMI (continuous or categorical) to be associated with DAS28. Compared to the normal BMI range, being obese was associated with a larger difference in mean DAS28 (0.23, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34) than being overweight (0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21); being underweight was not associated with disease activity. These associations were more pronounced among women, and were not explained by any single component of the DAS28. BMI appears to be associated with RA disease activity in women, but not in men.

  5. The Effect of Body Mass Index on Relapse of Pilonidal Sinus Disease in Adult Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalal Poorghasem

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Pilonidal disease occurs either as a secreting sinus or in the form of an acute abscess in the coccygeal area and is an underlying cyst associated with granulomatous and fibrosis tissue which commonly contains heaps of hair, for which inherited and acquisitive hypotheses are proposed. Body mass index (BMI is the objective indicator of obesity according to height and weight. This study aims to examine the relationship between BMI and the role of obesity in development and relapse of pilonidal cyst disease.Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined 126 patients with primary or recurrent pilonidal sinus within a year. A separate questionnaire was formed and recorded in the computer for each patient based on the disease type and body mass index.Results: One hundred out of 126 studied patients (79.4% underwent primary Pilonidal Sinus surgery and 26 patients (20.6 had recurrent Pilonidal sinus surgery. 36 patients (28.6 were female and 90 patients (71.4% were male. Among patients with recurrent Pilonidal sinus, 18 patients (69.2% had BMI above 30 and 8 patients (30.8% had BMI of 25 to 30 kg/m2. The patients whose BMI was estimated to be 20 to 25 or less than 20 kg/ m2 per square meter, had no recurrence of disease. Conclusion: In this study, high BMI was associated with relapse of pilonidal sinus disease. Supporting the previous studies, the incidence of disease in this study was also higher in young adults.

  6. New loci for body fat percentage reveal link between adiposity and cardiometabolic disease risk

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lu, Yingchang; Day, Felix R; Gustafsson, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10(-8)), of which eigh...

  7. From habits of attrition to modes of inclusion: enhancing the role of private practitioners in routine disease surveillance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phalkey, Revati K; Butsch, Carsten; Belesova, Kristine; Kroll, Marieke; Kraas, Frauke

    2017-08-25

    Private practitioners are the preferred first point of care in a majority of low and middle-income countries and in this position, best placed for the surveillance of diseases. However their contribution to routine surveillance data is marginal. This systematic review aims to explore evidence with regards to the role, contribution, and involvement of private practitioners in routine disease data notification. We examined the factors that determine the inclusion of, and the participation thereof of private practitioners in disease surveillance activities. Literature search was conducted using the PubMed, Web of Knowledge, WHOLIS, and WHO-IRIS databases to identify peer-reviewed and gray full-text documents in English with no limits for year of publication or study design. Forty manuscripts were reviewed. The current participation of private practitioners in disease surveillance efforts is appalling. The main barriers to their participation are inadequate knowledge leading to unsatisfactory attitudes and misperceptions that influence their practices. Complicated reporting mechanisms with unclear guidelines, along with unsatisfactory attitudes on behalf of the government and surveillance program managers also contribute to the underreporting of cases. Infrastructural barriers especially the availability of computers and skilled human resources are critical to improving private sector participation in routine disease surveillance. The issues identified are similar to those for underreporting within the Integrated infectious Disease Surveillance and Response systems (IDSR) which collects data mainly from public healthcare facilities. We recommend that surveillance program officers should provide periodic training, supportive supervision and offer regular feedback to the practitioners from both public as well as private sectors in order to improve case notification. Governments need to take leadership and foster collaborative partnerships between the public and private

  8. Dietary patterns, involvement in physical activity and body mass index of Romanian adults having cardio-vascular diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucia Maria Lotrean

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Promotion of a healthy diet, an active lifestyle and appropriate body weight are important components of cardio-vascular disease prevention and control. This study aimed to assess several dietary patterns, involvement in physical activity and body mass index (BMI of Romanian adults hospitalized because of diagnoses of cardio-vascular diseases (CVD. The study was performed in 2014 in 1 hospital setting from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It involved 80 adult patients (45 to 78 years old hospitalized with diagnoses of CVD. Anonymous questionnaire assessing several lifestyle related behaviours were filled in by the participants; based on their weight and height, the BMI was calculated. The results show that 76.2% of the participants recognize the role of consumption of fruits and vegetables for cardio-vascular diseases prevention and control, but only 5% meet the recommendations of eating at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables (around 400 g daily. The majority of the subjects know that the consumption of animal fat increases the risk for cardio-vascular diseases, but, only one out of two patients declared their constant preoccupation for avoiding products rich in saturated fatty acids, such as animal fat, high fat dairy products and high fat meat. Around 80% of the participants know the risk of obesity for cardio-vascular diseases, but 81.2% have a BMI higher than 25. A percentage of 60% of the patients declared that they received general information from health care professionals about diet, physical activity and cardio-vascular disease prevention, while one quarter followed an educational program for this issue and only one out of ten patients followed a personalized program for loosing weight. Comprehensive educational and counselling programs for promoting healthy nutrition and achievement of an appropriate body weight are needed for Romanian adults having CVD

  9. The non-destructive analysis of fluid inclusions in minerals using the proton microprobe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ryan, C.G.; Van Achterbergy, E. [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), North Ryde, NSW (Australia). Div. of Exploration Geoscience; Heinrich, C.A. [ETH Zentrum, Zurich, (Switzerland). Department Erdwissenschaften; Mernagh, T.P. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), Mainz (Germany); Zaw, K. [Tasmania Univ., Sandy Bay, TAS (Australia)

    1996-12-31

    The study of ore forming fluids trapped as fluid inclusions in minerals is the key to understanding fluid flow paths at the time of ore formation and to predicting the location of ore bodies within large-scale magmatic hydrothermal systems. The large penetration depths and the predictable nature of MeV proton trajectories and X-ray absorption enables reliable modelling of PIXE yields and the development of standardless quantitative analytical methods. This permits quantitative microanalysis of minerals at ppm levels, and more recently has enabled the development of methods for quantitative trace-element imaging and the quantitative, non-destructive analysis of individual fluid inclusions. This paper reports on recent developments in Proton Microprobe techniques with special emphasis on ore systems and fluid inclusion analysis. 6 refs., 2 figs.

  10. The non-destructive analysis of fluid inclusions in minerals using the proton microprobe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ryan, C G; Van Achterbergy, E [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), North Ryde, NSW (Australia). Div. of Exploration Geoscience; Heinrich, C A [ETH Zentrum, Zurich, (Switzerland). Department Erdwissenschaften; Mernagh, T P [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut), Mainz (Germany); Zaw, K [Tasmania Univ., Sandy Bay, TAS (Australia)

    1997-12-31

    The study of ore forming fluids trapped as fluid inclusions in minerals is the key to understanding fluid flow paths at the time of ore formation and to predicting the location of ore bodies within large-scale magmatic hydrothermal systems. The large penetration depths and the predictable nature of MeV proton trajectories and X-ray absorption enables reliable modelling of PIXE yields and the development of standardless quantitative analytical methods. This permits quantitative microanalysis of minerals at ppm levels, and more recently has enabled the development of methods for quantitative trace-element imaging and the quantitative, non-destructive analysis of individual fluid inclusions. This paper reports on recent developments in Proton Microprobe techniques with special emphasis on ore systems and fluid inclusion analysis. 6 refs., 2 figs.

  11. The role of embodied simulation in mental transformation of whole-body images: evidence from Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conson, Massimiliano; Trojano, Luigi; Vitale, Carmine; Mazzarella, Elisabetta; Allocca, Roberto; Barone, Paolo; Grossi, Dario; Santangelo, Gabriella

    2014-02-01

    It has been repeatedly demonstrated that mentally performing an action and mentally transforming body-parts entail simulation of one's own body movements, consistent with predictions of embodied cognition theories. However, the involvement of embodied simulation in mental transformation of whole-body images is still disputed. Here, we assessed own body transformation in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with symptoms most affecting the left or the right body side. PD patients were required to perform left-right judgments on front-facing or back-facing human figures, and a letter rotation task. Results demonstrated that PD patients were selectively impaired in judging the side of back-facing human figures corresponding to their own most affected side, but performed as well as healthy subjects on mental transformation of front-facing bodies and on letter rotation. These findings demonstrate a parallel impairment between motor and mental simulation mechanisms in PD patients, thus highlighting the specific contribution of embodied cognition to mental transformation of whole-body images. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  12. Comparison with Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonism in dementia with lewy bodies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Do Young; Park, Kyung Won; Kim, Jae Woo

    2002-01-01

    Dementia with lewy bodies (DLB) is recognized as a common cause of dementia in elderly people. It is characterized by Parkinsonism as well as fluctuation cognition and visual hallucination. It is not easy to differentiated DLB with Parkinsonism from Parkinson's disease (PD). We compared clinical features and I-123 IPT SPECT findings between two groups. Ten probable DLB patients and 15 PD patients were included. They were all matched for age (66.9±8.5) vs 65.8±8.5), education period (9.8±4.9 vs 9.1±4.5) and H and Y stage (2.9±0.8). Clinical features were scored. I-123 IPT SPECT were performed. The mean age of disease onset was seen more common in PD, but the severity of rigidity and bradykinesia was not significantly different. We found no significant difference of responsiveness to levodopa measured with decrement of UPDRS scores before and after treatment of levodopa. The mean disease duration reaching same H and Y stage was longer in PD than in DLB. The average K-MMSE score was significantly lower in DLB than in PD. The uptake ratio in the striatum in DLB was comparable to that in PD. In differentiating the two conditions the speed of disease progression and cognitive state were considered to be important. The level of dopamine transporter was not different between two diseases with same H and Y stage

  13. Body mass index and the risk of Parkinson disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, G; Jousilahti, P; Nissinen, A; Antikainen, R; Kivipelto, M; Tuomilehto, J

    2006-12-12

    To examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of Parkinson disease (PD). Study cohorts included 22,367 Finnish men and 23,439 women 25 to 59 years of age without a history of PD at baseline. Hazards ratios (HRs) of incident PD were estimated for different levels of BMI. During a mean follow-up period of 18.8 years, 272 men and 254 women developed incident PD. After adjustment for confounding factors (age, study years, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, education, leisure-time physical activity, smoking, and alcohol, coffee, and tea consumption), the HRs of PD at different levels of BMI ( or =30 kg/m(2)) were 1.00, 1.97 (95% CI: 1.21 to 3.22), 1.83 (95% CI: 1.12 to 2.99), 2.34 (95% CI: 1.45 to 3.78), and 2.44 (95% CI: 1.44 to 4.15) in men, and 1.00, 1.50 (95% CI: 0.95 to 2.37), 1.65 (95% CI: 1.05 to 2.59), 1.79 (95% CI: 1.15 to 2.80), and 1.77 (95% CI: 1.12 to 2.78) in women, and 1.00, 1.70 (95% CI: 1.23 to 2.37), 1.70 (95% CI: 1.23 to 2.37), 2.02 (95% CI: 1.46 to 2.79), and 2.03 (95% CI: 1.44 to 2.85) in men and women combined (adjusted also for sex). In both sexes combined, the multivariate-adjusted direct association between BMI and the risk of PD was present both in subjects aged 25 to 49 years and 50 to 59 years, in never smokers and smokers and in participants diagnosed PD before and after 65 years of age. Body mass index is associated with a risk of Parkinson disease. The effect is graded and independent of other risk factors.

  14. Divergent functional connectivity during attentional processing in Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease

    OpenAIRE

    Kobeleva, Xenia; Firbank, Michael; Peraza, Luis; Gallagher, Peter; Thomas, Alan; Burn, David J.; O'Brien, John; Taylor, John-Paul

    2017-01-01

    Attention and executive dysfunction are features of Lewy body dementia (LBD) but their neuroanatomical basis is poorly understood. To investigate underlying dysfunctional attention-executive network (EXEC) interactions, we examined functional connectivity (FC) in 30 patients with LBD, 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 21 healthy controls during an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Participants performed a modified Attention Network Test (ANT),...

  15. Giant epidermal inclusion cyst in the male breast: A case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    KIm, Hyun Jin; Park, Woon Ju; KIm, Sang Wook; Paik, So Ya [Daejin Medical Center Bundang Jesaeng General Hospital, Seongnam (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-03-15

    Giant epidermal inclusion cyst is a rare disease entity, and the occurrence of this cyst in the male breast is extremely rare. We report a case of giant epidermal inclusion cyst in the breast, which presented as a palpable and painful right breast mass in a 63-year-old man. The sonographic and computed tomography (CT) features are described in-depth. Physical examination revealed a firm, well-defined mass in the upper central portion of the right breast. Ultrasonography showed a 5.2 cm sized, oval, circumscribed, and complex cystic and solid mass with posterior acoustic enhancement, and CT showed a well-defined homogeneous low density mass without enhancement in the right breast. Surgical excision was performed, and pathological examination revealed a giant epidermal inclusion cyst.

  16. Distemper-like disease and encephalitozoonosis in wild dogs (Lycaon pictus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Heerden, J; Bainbridge, N; Burroughs, R E; Kriek, N P

    1989-01-01

    Clinical signs of a fatal disease resembling those of canine distemper were observed in two groups of captive wild dog (Lycaon pictus) pups 13 days after vaccination with a commercially available combination vaccine for dogs which contained a live attenuated strain of canine distemper virus. Histopathological examination of tissues revealed the presence of intranuclear inclusion bodies in neurons and lesions resembling canine distemper as well as colonies of an Encephalitozoon sp. in the central nervous system and kidneys. Lesions were observed in both organs which resembled those described in other species infected with Encephalitozoon cuniculi.

  17. Insulin resistance, body composition, and fat distribution in obese children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Hye Ran; Chang, Eun Jae

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of body composition, especially distribution of body fat, and insulin resistance on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese children. One hundred obese children (66 boys, 34 girls) with (n=60) and without NAFLD (n=40) were assessed. Anthropometry, laboratory tests, abdominal ultrasonography, and dual energy x-ray absorption metry (DXA) were evaluated in all subjects. Subject age and measurements of liver enzymes, γ- glutamyl transpeptidase (γGT), uric acid, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and insulin resistance were significantly different between the non-NAFLD group and NAFLD group. Body fat and trunk fat percentage were significantly different between the two groups (pfat percentage was not (p=0.683). Insulin resistance correlated significantly with body fat and trunk fat percentages, age, liver enzymes, γGT, and uric acid in obese children. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that insulin resistance and trunk fat percentage significantly affected the development of NAFLD in obese children. Body fat, especially abdominal fat, influences the development of insulin resistance and subsequent NAFLD in obese children. Therefore, body composition measurement using DXA, in conjunction with biochemical tests, may be beneficial in evaluating obese children with NAFLD.

  18. Amyloid-like protein inclusions in tobacco transgenic plants.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Villar-Piqué

    Full Text Available The formation of insoluble protein deposits in human tissues is linked to the onset of more than 40 different disorders, ranging from dementia to diabetes. In these diseases, the proteins usually self-assemble into ordered β-sheet enriched aggregates known as amyloid fibrils. Here we study the structure of the inclusions formed by maize transglutaminase (TGZ in the chloroplasts of tobacco transplastomic plants and demonstrate that they have an amyloid-like nature. Together with the evidence of amyloid structures in bacteria and fungi our data argue that amyloid formation is likely a ubiquitous process occurring across the different kingdoms of life. The discovery of amyloid conformations inside inclusions of genetically modified plants might have implications regarding their use for human applications.

  19. Involving users with learning difficulties in health improvement: lessons from inclusive learning disability research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walmsley, Jan

    2004-03-01

    In this paper the author considers the lessons to be drawn from what is termed "inclusive" learning disability research for user involvement around health improvement. Inclusive learning disability research refers to research where people with learning difficulties (intellectual disability) are involved as active participants, as opposed to passive subjects. There is by now a considerable body of such research, developed over the past 25 years. From the review, the author draws attention to areas which can inform practice in involvement of users in a way that adds value.

  20. Formation of active inclusion bodies induced by hydrophobic self-assembling peptide GFIL8.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xu; Zhou, Bihong; Hu, Weike; Zhao, Qing; Lin, Zhanglin

    2015-06-16

    In the last few decades, several groups have observed that proteins expressed as inclusion bodies (IBs) in bacteria could still be biologically active when terminally fused to an appropriate aggregation-prone partner such as pyruvate oxidase from Paenibacillus polymyxa (PoxB). More recently, we have demonstrated that three amphipathic self-assembling peptides, an alpha helical peptide 18A, a beta-strand peptide ELK16, and a surfactant-like peptide L6KD, have properties that induce target proteins into active IBs. We have developed an efficient protein expression and purification approach for these active IBs by introducing a self-cleavable intein molecule. In this study, the self-assembling peptide GFIL8 (GFILGFIL) with only hydrophobic residues was analyzed, and this peptide effectively induced the formation of cytoplasmic IBs in Escherichia coli when terminally attached to lipase A and amadoriase II. The protein aggregates in cells were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis and retained ~50% of their specific activities relative to the native counterparts. We constructed an expression and separation coupled tag (ESCT) by incorporating an intein molecule, the Mxe GyrA intein. Soluble target proteins were successfully released from active IBs upon cleavage of the intein between the GFIL8 tag and the target protein, which was mediated by dithiothreitol. A variant of GFIL8, GFIL16 (GFILGFILGFILGFIL), improved the ESCT scheme by efficiently eliminating interference from the soluble intein-GFIL8 molecule. The yields of target proteins at the laboratory scale were 3.0-7.5 μg/mg wet cell pellet, which is comparable to the yields from similar ESCT constructs using 18A, ELK16, or the elastin-like peptide tag scheme. The all-hydrophobic self-assembling peptide GFIL8 induced the formation of active IBs in E. coli when terminally attached to target proteins. GFIL8 and its variant GFIL16 can act as a "pull-down" tag to produce purified soluble proteins with

  1. Lewy body dementias

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løkkegaard, Annemette; Korbo, Lise

    2017-01-01

    Dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson disease dementia share the same pathophysiology. Together they are called Lewy body dementias and are the second most common type of dementia. Lewy body dementias receive little attention, and patients are often misdiagnosed, leading to less than ideal...... management. In this article, diagnostic criteria combined with imaging and other biomarkers as well as current treatment recommendations are summarized, and some of the challenges for the future are outlined. Refinement of diagnosis and clarification of the pathogenesis are required in search for disease...

  2. Malnutrition risk questionnaire combined with body composition measurement in malnutrition screening in inflammatory bowel disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Csontos, Ágnes Anna; Molnár, Andrea; Piri, Zsolt; Pálfi, Erzsébet; Miheller, Pál

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of malnutrition screening is to predict the probability of a worse outcome due to nutritional factors. The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) can be used for screening in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, it does not provide details about body composition. Our aim was to assess the body composition and combine this with the MUST method to screen risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia. A total of 173 IBD outpatients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The MUST scale indicated 21.4% of IBD patients to be at risk of malnutrition. A risk of sarcopenia was detected in 27.7%. However, one third of these patients were not considered to be at risk by their MUST score. Furthermore, Crohn's disease (CD) patients had a strongly unfavorable fat-free mass index (FFMI) value compared to ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and these differences were significant among men (FFMI: 18.62 ± 2.16 vs 19.85 ± 2.22, p = 0.02, in CD and UC males, respectively). As sarcopenia is a relevant prognostic factor, the MUST method should be expanded to include body composition analysis to detect more IBD patients at risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia in order to start their nutritional therapy immediately.

  3. A coated rigid elliptical inclusion loaded by a couple in the presence of uniform interfacial and hoop stresses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xu; Schiavone, Peter

    2018-06-01

    We consider a confocally coated rigid elliptical inclusion, loaded by a couple and introduced into a remote uniform stress field. We show that uniform interfacial and hoop stresses along the inclusion-coating interface can be achieved when the two remote normal stresses and the remote shear stress each satisfy certain conditions. Our analysis indicates that: (i) the uniform interfacial tangential stress depends only on the area of the inclusion and the moment of the couple; (ii) the rigid-body rotation of the rigid inclusion depends only on the area of the inclusion, the coating thickness, the shear moduli of the composite and the moment of the couple; (iii) for given remote normal stresses and material parameters, the coating thickness and the aspect ratio of the inclusion are required to satisfy a particular relationship; (iv) for prescribed remote shear stress, moment and given material parameters, the coating thickness, the size and aspect ratio of the inclusion are also related. Finally, a harmonic rigid inclusion emerges as a special case if the coating and the matrix have identical elastic properties.

  4. Frequency and circumstances of falls in people with inclusion body myositis: a questionnaire survey to explore falls management and physiotherapy provision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hiscock, A; Dewar, L; Parton, M; Machado, P; Hanna, M; Ramdharry, G

    2014-03-01

    To survey the incidence and circumstances of falls for people with inclusion body myositis (IBM) in the UK, and to investigate the provision of physiotherapy and falls management. Postal questionnaire survey. Participants completed questionnaires at home. Ninety-four people diagnosed with IBM were screened against the inclusion criteria. Seventy-two potential participants were sent a questionnaire, and 62 were completed and returned. Invited participants were sent an adapted Falls Event Questionnaire pertaining to falls, perceived causes of falls and the provision of physiotherapy. Questionnaires were returned anonymously. The proportions of respondents who reported a fall or a near fall, along with the frequencies of falls and near falls were calculated. Descriptive data of falls were collected pertaining to location and cause. Data analysis was performed to investigate provision of physiotherapy services. The response rate was 86% [62/72, mean (standard deviation) age 68 (8) years]. Falls were reported by 98% (61/62) of respondents, with 60% (37/62) falling frequently. In this study, age was not found to be an indicator of falls risk or frequency. Twenty-one percent (13/62) of respondents had not seen a physiotherapist in relation to their IBM symptoms, and of those that had, 31% (15/49) had not seen a physiotherapist until more than 12 months after IBM was diagnosed. Only 18% (11/61) of fallers reported that they had received falls management input. Falls are a common occurrence for people with IBM, independent of age and years since symptoms first presented, and are poorly addressed by appropriate physiotherapy management. National falls guidelines are not being followed, and referral rates to physiotherapy need to improve. Copyright © 2013 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Glucocerebrosidase mutations and neuropsychiatric phenotypes in Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementias: Review and meta-analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creese, Byron; Bell, Emily; Johar, Iskandar; Francis, Paul; Ballard, Clive; Aarsland, Dag

    2018-03-01

    Heterozygous mutations in glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) are a major genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Recently, there has been a considerable focus on the relationship between GBA mutations and emergence of cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms in these diseases. Here, we review the literature in this area, with a particular focus, including meta-analysis, on the key neuropsychiatric symptoms of cognitive impairment, psychosis, and depression in Parkinson's disease. Our meta-analysis demonstrated that GBA mutations are associated with a 2.4-fold increased risk of cognitive impairment. In addition, our novel meta-analyses of psychosis and depression showed a 1.8- and 2.2-fold increased risk respectively associated with GBA mutations, although due to possible bias and heterogeneity the depression findings should be interpreted with caution. While the precise mechanisms which increase susceptibility to neurodegeneration in GBA carriers are not known, evidence of greater cortical Lewy body pathology, reduced patterns of cortical activation, and hippocampal pathology in animal models are all consistent with a direct effect of GBA mutations on these symptoms. Extension of this work in DLB and individuals without neurodegeneration will be important in further characterizing how GBA mutations increase risk for PD and DLB and influence disease course. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Inclusive and semi-inclusive analysis from polarised deep-inelastic muon scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kageya, T.

    1999-01-01

    We present new results for the spin-dependent structure function on the proton and for the polarised quark distributions in the nucleon from semi-inclusive spin asymmetries. With the inclusive asymmetry from deep inelastic scattering of polarised muons on polarised protons, it is found that the Ellis-Jaffe sum rule is violated. Using our results for Γ d 1 , the Bjorken sum rule is confirmed with an accuracy of about 15%. From semi-inclusive spin asymmetries and SMC inclusive spin asymmetries, we determine the polarised quark distributions of valence u and d quarks to be positive and negative, respectively, while the non-strange sea distribution to be consistent with zero

  7. Lewy body dementias

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løkkegaard, Annemette; Korbo, Lise

    2017-01-01

    Dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson disease dementia share the same pathophysiology. Together they are called Lewy body dementias and are the second most common type of dementia. Lewy body dementias receive little attention, and patients are often misdiagnosed, leading to less than ideal...

  8. Assembly and breakdown of Cajal bodies in accessory nuclei of Hymenoptera.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaglarz, Mariusz K; Bilinski, Szczepan M; Kloc, Malgorzata

    2005-03-01

    In some species of insects, oocytes have vesicular organelles, termed accessory nuclei (ANs). The ANs form by budding off from the nuclear envelope of the oocyte and are filled with translucent matrix containing dense inclusions. One type of these inclusions contains coilin and small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) and is homologous to Cajal bodies. We describe the early events in the morphogenesis of Cajal bodies in the ANs (ANCBs) of the common wasp, Vespula germanica, and show that they contain survival of motor neurons (SMN) protein. We present evidence that in the wasp, ANCBs form by the gradual accumulation of aggregates composed of SMN and small nuclear RNAs. We also show that ANCBs break down and disperse within the ANs as the ANs, which initially surround the oocyte nucleus, localize to the oocyte cortex. The components of dispersed ANCBs are retained within ANs until the end of oogenesis, which suggests that their function may be required at the onset of embryonic development. Because the morphology and behavior of ANs and their Cajal body-like inclusions are conserved in two other hymenopteran species, these features might be characteristic of all hymenopterans.

  9. Body composition indices and predicted cardiovascular disease risk profile among urban dwellers in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Tin Tin; Amiri, Mohammadreza; Mohd Hairi, Farizah; Thangiah, Nithiah; Dahlui, Maznah; Majid, Hazreen Abdul

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to compare various body composition indices and their association with a predicted cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profile in an urban population in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2012. Households were selected using a simple random-sampling method, and adult members were invited for medical screening. The Framingham Risk Scoring algorithm was used to predict CVD risk, which was then analyzed in association with body composition measurements, including waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, waist-height ratio, body fat percentage, and body mass index. Altogether, 882 individuals were included in our analyses. Indices that included waist-related measurements had the strongest association with CVD risk in both genders. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic variables, waist-related measurements retained the strongest correlations with predicted CVD risk in males. However, body mass index, waist-height ratio, and waist circumference had the strongest correlation with CVD risk in females. The waist-related indicators of abdominal obesity are important components of CVD risk profiles. As waist-related parameters can quickly and easily be measured, they should be routinely obtained in primary care settings and population health screens in order to assess future CVD risk profiles and design appropriate interventions.

  10. Body Composition Indices and Predicted Cardiovascular Disease Risk Profile among Urban Dwellers in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tin Tin Su

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objectives. This study aims to compare various body composition indices and their association with a predicted cardiovascular disease (CVD risk profile in an urban population in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2012. Households were selected using a simple random-sampling method, and adult members were invited for medical screening. The Framingham Risk Scoring algorithm was used to predict CVD risk, which was then analyzed in association with body composition measurements, including waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, waist-height ratio, body fat percentage, and body mass index. Results. Altogether, 882 individuals were included in our analyses. Indices that included waist-related measurements had the strongest association with CVD risk in both genders. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic variables, waist-related measurements retained the strongest correlations with predicted CVD risk in males. However, body mass index, waist-height ratio, and waist circumference had the strongest correlation with CVD risk in females. Conclusions. The waist-related indicators of abdominal obesity are important components of CVD risk profiles. As waist-related parameters can quickly and easily be measured, they should be routinely obtained in primary care settings and population health screens in order to assess future CVD risk profiles and design appropriate interventions.

  11. Abnormally phosphorylated tau protein in senile dementia of Lewy body type and Alzheimer disease: evidence that the disorders are distinct.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strong, C; Anderton, B H; Perry, R H; Perry, E K; Ince, P G; Lovestone, S

    1995-01-01

    The relationship between Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (senile dementia Lewy body type, or SDLT) and dementia in Parkinson's disease is unclear. AD pathology is characterised by both amyloid deposition and abnormal phosphorylation of tau in paired helical filaments (PHF-tau). In AD, abnormally phosphorylated PHF-tau is present in neurofibrillary tangles, in neuritic processes of senile plaques, and also in neuropil threads dispersed throughout the cerebral cortex. Cortical homogenates from 12 cases each of AD and SDLT, 13 cases of Parkinson's disease, and 11 normal controls were examined by Western blot analysis with antibodies that detect PHF-tau. No PHF-tau was found in Parkinson's disease or control cortex. No PHF-tau was found in SDLT cases without histological evidence of tangles. PHF-tau was detectable in SDLT cases with a low density of tangles, and large amounts of PHF-tau were present in AD cases. This study demonstrates that abnormally phosphorylated PHF-tau is only present where tangles are found and not in SDLT cases without tangles or with only occasional tangles. It is concluded that Lewy body dementias are distinct at a molecular level from AD.

  12. How 'dangerous’ are migrants’ bodies? Narratives about disease and public health and techniques of governance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojić-Mitrović Marta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this text I represent the narratives about migrants which are related to their bodies as potential/plausible carriers of diseases that could be spread to local population. The narratives are considered as special manifestations of the discourse of fear, though which migrants are being construed as a form of corporeal security threat. In particular, through the analysis of narratives about ebola and scabies, the potential to use the fear from disease as symbol and instrument of political power is indicated, when a disease ceases to be medical problem and becomes predominantly a social one. Fear from disease and measures undertaken to annul it are thus integrated into techniques of governance. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177027: Multietnicitet, multikulturalnost, migracije - savremeni procesi

  13. Inclusive pedagogy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korsgaard, Morten Timmermann; Skov Mortensen, Stig

    This article will present a case for a shift in perspective in inclusive education research towards a continentally inspired approach. Drawing on the age old distinction between continental and Anglo-American educational research the aim is to flesh out what a shift to a continental approach...... will entail, and why it might be beneficial to research in inclusive education...

  14. What Lies Within: Using Radiopharmaceuticals to Reveal and Target Diseases Hidden Inside the Human Body

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jawerth, Nicole

    2014-01-01

    The ability to pinpoint the location and size of a cancerous mass hidden inside of a patient’s body was unthinkable less than 100 years ago. Today, with the help of special scanning machines, doctors are able to use radioactive drugs known as radiopharmaceuticals to get a glimpse inside the human body, and these pharmaceuticals can even be used in treating many health conditions. In nuclear medicine, radiopharmaceuticals play an essential role for minimally invasive diagnostic, treatment and care management procedures for many diseases, especially cancer, as well as for relieving pain associated with certain cancers

  15. Mini Review: Anticholinergic Activity as a Behavioral Pathology of Lewy Body Disease and Proposal of the Concept of “Anticholinergic Spectrum Disorders”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koji Hori

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Given the relationship between anticholinergic activity (AA and Alzheimer’s disease (AD, we rereview our hypothesis of the endogenous appearance of AA in AD. Briefly, because acetylcholine (ACh regulates not only cognitive function but also the inflammatory system, when ACh downregulation reaches a critical level, inflammation increases, triggering the appearance of cytokines with AA. Moreover, based on a case report of a patient with mild AD and slightly deteriorated ACh, we also speculate that AA can appear endogenously in Lewy body disease due to the dual action of the downregulation of ACh and hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Based on these hypotheses, we consider AA to be a behavioral pathology of Lewy body disease. We also propose the concept of “anticholinergic spectrum disorders,” which encompass a variety of conditions, including AD, Lewy body disease, and delirium. Finally, we suggest the prescription of cholinesterase inhibitors to patients in this spectrum of disorders to abolish AA by upregulating ACh.

  16. Self-powered implantable electronic-skin for in situ analysis of urea/uric-acid in body fluids and the potential applications in real-time kidney-disease diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wenyan; Han, Wuxiao; Gao, Huiling; Zhang, Linlin; Wang, Shuai; Xing, Lili; Zhang, Yan; Xue, Xinyu

    2018-01-25

    As the concentration of different biomarkers in human body fluids are an important parameter of chronic disease, wearable biosensors for in situ analysis of body fluids with high sensitivity, real-time detection, flexibility and biocompatibility have significant potential therapeutic applications. In this paper, a flexible self-powered implantable electronic-skin (e-skin) for in situ body fluids analysis (urea/uric-acid) as a real-time kidney-disease diagnoser has been proposed based on the piezo-enzymatic-reaction coupling process of ZnO nanowire arrays. It can convert the mechanical energy of body movements into a piezoelectric impulse, and the outputting piezoelectric signal contains the urea/uric-acid concentration information in body fluids. This piezoelectric-biosensing process does not need an external electricity supply or battery. The e-skin was implanted under the abdominal skin of a mouse and provided in situ analysis of the kidney-disease parameters. These results provide a new approach for developing a self-powered in situ body fluids-analysis technique for chronic-disease diagnosis.

  17. Inclusion of a dietary protocol and laxative in the treatment of prostate cancer; Inclusion de un protocolo dietetico y laxante en el tratamiento del cancer de prostata

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    The precision and accuracy of prostate treatments is strongly influenced by the geometric uncertainty introduced by the movements of the body, both inter and intra fraction. In this sense both substance use laxatives to power the patient play a crucial role and therefore the inclusion of a diet designed to reduce the volume of gas or stool can lead to a substantial reduction of errors in treatment.

  18. The difference in the family background, school inclusion and Occupational Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Fonsêca de Queiroz Marcelino

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Based on discussions and studies carried out on the topic, the text talks about the stigma of disability,the family, and the investment in children`s schooling under the guidance of some authors who discuss such issues. Stigma is a term that was once considered as reference for a evidence body, but it is widely used to mean discomfort with difference and exclusion. The concepts of identity and difference are important in the discussion about disability, they are interdependent and inseparable, and they will constitute the identity of the self-other relationship. In the scenario of education, the development stages of care for people with disabilities are exclusion, institutional segregation, integration, and inclusion. The occupational therapist is a professional who holds great commitment in his work with the inclusion of schoolchildren and their future in their insertion in the labor market. Professional support often facilitates the deconstruction of concepts and ideas related to the impossibility of social inclusion of disabled people and it plays an important role in the family investment.

  19. Inclusion: Conceptualization and measurement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, W.S.; Otten, S.; Van der Zee, K.I.; Jans, L.

    2014-01-01

    n the present research, we introduced a conceptual framework of inclusion and subsequently used this as a starting point to develop and validate a scale to measure perceptions of inclusion. Departing from existing work on inclusion and complementing this with theoretical insights from optimal

  20. Inclusion : Conceptualization and measurement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, Wiebren S.; Otten, Sabine; van der Zee, Karen I.; Jans, Lise

    In the present research, we introduced a conceptual framework of inclusion and subsequently used this as a starting point to develop and validate a scale to measure perceptions of inclusion. Departing from existing work on inclusion and complementing this with theoretical insights from optimal

  1. Inclusion: Conceptualization and measurement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansens, Wiebren S.; Otten, Sabine; van der Zee, Karen; Jans, Lise

    2014-01-01

    In the present research, we introduced a conceptual framework of inclusion and subsequently used this as a starting point to develop and validate a scale to measure perceptions of inclusion. Departing from existing work on inclusion and complementing this with theoretical insights from optimal

  2. Fossils and living taxa agree on patterns of body mass evolution: a case study with Afrotheria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puttick, Mark N; Thomas, Gavin H

    2015-12-22

    Most of life is extinct, so incorporating some fossil evidence into analyses of macroevolution is typically seen as necessary to understand the diversification of life and patterns of morphological evolution. Here we test the effects of inclusion of fossils in a study of the body size evolution of afrotherian mammals, a clade that includes the elephants, sea cows and elephant shrews. We find that the inclusion of fossil tips has little impact on analyses of body mass evolution; from a small ancestral size (approx. 100 g), there is a shift in rate and an increase in mass leading to the larger-bodied Paenungulata and Tubulidentata, regardless of whether fossils are included or excluded from analyses. For Afrotheria, the inclusion of fossils and morphological character data affect phylogenetic topology, but these differences have little impact upon patterns of body mass evolution and these body mass evolutionary patterns are consistent with the fossil record. The largest differences between our analyses result from the evolutionary model, not the addition of fossils. For some clades, extant-only analyses may be reliable to reconstruct body mass evolution, but the addition of fossils and careful model selection is likely to increase confidence and accuracy of reconstructed macroevolutionary patterns. © 2015 The Authors.

  3. Downsizing of lean body mass is a key determinant of Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingenbleek, Yves; Bernstein, Larry H

    2015-01-01

    Lean body mass (LBM) encompasses all metabolically active organs distributed into visceral and structural tissue compartments and collecting the bulk of N and K stores of the human body. Transthyretin (TTR) is a plasma protein mainly secreted by the liver within a trimolecular TTR-RBP-retinol complex revealing from birth to old age strikingly similar evolutionary patterns with LBM in health and disease. TTR is also synthesized by the choroid plexus along distinct regulatory pathways. Chronic dietary methionine (Met) deprivation or cytokine-induced inflammatory disorders generates LBM downsizing following differentiated physiopathological processes. Met-restricted regimens downregulate the transsulfuration cascade causing upstream elevation of homocysteine (Hcy) safeguarding Met homeostasis and downstream drop of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) impairing anti-oxidative capacities. Elderly persons constitute a vulnerable population group exposed to increasing Hcy burden and declining H2S protection, notably in plant-eating communities or in the course of inflammatory illnesses. Appropriate correction of defective protein status and eradication of inflammatory processes may restore an appropriate LBM size allowing the hepatic production of the retinol circulating complex to resume, in contrast with the refractory choroidal TTR secretory process. As a result of improved health status, augmented concentrations of plasma-derived TTR and retinol may reach the cerebrospinal fluid and dismantle senile amyloid plaques, contributing to the prevention or the delay of the onset of neurodegenerative events in elderly subjects at risk of Alzheimer's disease.

  4. Local detection of three-dimensional inclusions in electrical impedance tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ide, T; Isozaki, H; Nakata, S; Siltanen, S

    2010-01-01

    Assume one is given a three-dimensional bounded domain with an unknown conductivity distribution inside. Further, suppose that the conductivity consists of a known background and unknown anomalous regions (inclusions) where conductivity values are unknown and different from the background. A method is introduced in Ide et al (2007 Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 60 1415–42) for locating inclusions approximately from noisy localized voltage-to-current measurements performed at the boundary of the body. The method is based on the use of complex geometrical optics solutions and hyperbolic geometry; numerical testing is presented in the aforementioned paper for the two-dimensional case. This work reports the results of computational implementation of the method in dimension three, where both the simulation of data and the computerized inversion algorithm are more complicated than in dimension two. Three new regularizing steps are added to the algorithm, resulting in significantly better robustness against noise. Numerical experiments are reported, suggesting that the approximate location of the inclusions can be reliably recovered from the data with a realistic level of measurement noise. Potential applications of the results include early diagnosis of breast cancer, underground contaminant detection and nondestructive testing

  5. Body Image in Younger Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paterson, Carly; Lengacher, Cecile A.; Donovan, Kristine A.; Kip, Kevin E.; Tofthagen, Cindy S.

    2015-01-01

    Background Body image is a complex issue with the potential to impact many aspects of cancer survivorship, particularly for the younger breast cancer survivor. Objective The purpose of this review is to synthesize the current state of the science for body image in younger women with breast cancer. Intervention/Methods Combinations of the terms “body image,” “sexuality intervention,” “women,” “younger women,” and “breast cancer” were searched in the PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct databases through January 2014. Inclusion criteria for this review were: 1) original research; 2) published in English from the year 2000 forward; 3) measuring body image as an outcome variable; and 4) results included reporting of age-related outcomes. Results Thirty-six articles met the inclusion criteria. The majority of studies were cross-sectional, with extensive variation in body image assessment tools. Age and treatment type had a significant impact on body image, and poorer body image was related to physical and psychological distress, sex and intimacy, and the partnered relationship among younger women. Only one intervention study found a significant improvement in body image post-intervention. Conclusions Findings suggest body image is a complex post-treatment concern for breast cancer survivors, particularly younger women. The findings of this review are limited by the high level of variation in the methods for assessing body image. Implications for Practice Further research of interventions to address body image concerns following treatment for breast cancer is warranted. Improvement of body image may improve the quality of life of younger breast cancer survivors. PMID:25881807

  6. Evidence on Inclusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dyssegaard, Camilla Brørup; Larsen, Michael Søgaard

    The purpose of this publication is to examine existing research on inclusion to identify strategies of inclusion that have generated positive effects. To do so it is necessary to understand the effect of the applied strategies. One approach, which is being discussed, is to use evidence to determine...... which methods have proven more effective than others. The desire to gain insight into research on inclusion forms the basis of the current systematic review. The task was to determine which strategies primary research has found to be most effective for inclusion purposes. We have solved this task...... by addressing the existing research with the following question: What is the effect of including children with special needs in mainstream teaching in basic school, and which of the applied educational methods have proved to have a positive effect?...

  7. Extended random-phase approximation with three-body ground-state correlations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tohyama, M.; Schuck, P.

    2008-01-01

    An extended random-phase approximation (ERPA) which contains the effects of ground-state correlations up to a three-body level is applied to an extended Lipkin model which contains an additional particle-scattering term. Three-body correlations in the ground state are necessary to preserve the hermiticity of the Hamiltonian matrix of ERPA. Two approximate forms of ERPA which neglect the three-body correlations are also applied to investigate the importance of three-body correlations. It is found that the ground-state energy is little affected by the inclusion of the three-body correlations. On the contrary, three-body correlations for the excited states can become quite important. (orig.)

  8. About Body Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Video) Thyroid Disease Additional Content Medical News About Body Water By James L. Lewis, III, MD, Attending ... here for the Professional Version Water Balance About Body Water Dehydration Overhydration Water accounts for about one ...

  9. Body Dysmorphic Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perihan Cam Ray

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Body dysmorphic disorder is a type of mental illness, wherein the affected person is concerned with body image, manifested as excessive concern about and preoccupation with a perceived defect of their physical features. Although it is a common disease and has been defined in the literature over a century, it is not a well known disease. Chronic, treatment resistant and sometimes delusional nature could result in severe functional impairment. The diagnosis and appropriate therapy of disorder are crucial because of increased suicidality and reduction in life quality. In this article the symptoms, etiology, clinical features and treatment of body dysmorphic disorder are briefly reviewed.

  10. Footstep towards Inclusive Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, Faiza; Zafar, Aneeka; Naz, Tayyaba

    2016-01-01

    Inclusive education is a rising trend in the world. The first step towards inclusive education is providing the awareness to the general education teachers. This study focused to investigate the general education teachers of primary and secondary level awareness about the special education and inclusive education. This study is descriptive method…

  11. The Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Body Image Attitudes in Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sareh Zar-Shenas

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Sociocultural emphasis and increased interest in physical attractiveness and current attitudes body structure have increased body image dissatisfaction among women. The prevalence of body image dissatisfaction is linked with various psychological disorders and disturbances such as low self-esteem, depression and other disorders. The present study investigated the short program aerobic exercise effects on body image among women. Materials & Methods: In this interventional and quasi experimental study, 82 females among 150 women (18-45 years old referred to Enghelab and Gol sports clubs in Tehran were selected by convenient and simple sampling based on inclusive and exclusive criteria and randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. They did not participate in any exercise in last 3 months and also they did not have any physical disease and meet criteria for deficit of body image attitudes. Data collection was done by using demographic and Multidimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire. The intervention group participated in aerobic exercise program. These sessions lasted 3 hours per week for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed by Chi–Square, Paired T and Independent T tests. Results: There were significant differences between two groups after intervention in sub items of body image including: self-appearance evaluation (P<0.001, self-appearance orientation (P<0.001, health orientation (P=0.003, illness orientation (P=0.002, but their fitness evaluation (P=0.141, self-fitness orientation (P=0.888, health evaluation (P=0.072, self-body satisfaction (P=0.082, overweight preoccupations (P=0.167 and self-assesed weight (P=0.156 did not change clearly. Conclusion: Short periods of aerobic exercise can effectively promote body image attitudes among women, and exercise can be used as a method of treatment in occupational therapy of the disorder.

  12. More Policies, Greater Inclusion? Exploring the Contradictions of New Labour Inclusive Education Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roulstone, Alan; Prideaux, Simon

    2008-01-01

    The era of New Labour government has witnessed unprecedented growth in inclusive education policies. There is, however, limited evidence that policies have increased disabled children's inclusion. This article explores reasons for this contradiction. Drawing on sociological insights, it is argued that New Labour policies on inclusive education…

  13. Linguistic Diversity and Social Inclusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piller, Ingrid; Takahashi, Kimie

    2011-01-01

    This introduction provides the framework for the special issue by describing the social inclusion agenda of neoliberal market democracies. While the social inclusion agenda has been widely adopted, social inclusion policies are often blind to the ways in which language proficiency and language ideologies mediate social inclusion in linguistically…

  14. Inclusive pedagogy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korsgaard, Morten Timmermann; Mortensen, Stig Skov

    of education. The article explores the relationship between Continental and Anglo-American educational theory, and why they seem to have developed in such distinct directions. Beginning with the Anglo-American perspective it is outlined how pedagogy and the so called educational interest became replaced...... and the politicisation of inclusive education, and a positive aim in the form of an argument for a move towards constructing a pedagogical ideal of inclusion....

  15. Inclusion in the East: Chinese Students' Attitudes towards Inclusive Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malinen, Olli-Pekka; Savolainen, Hannu

    2008-01-01

    A sample of 523 Chinese university students was given a questionnaire on their attitudes towards the inclusion of children with disabilities into regular classrooms. Factor analysis, analysis of variance, t-test and correlations were used to assess the respondents' general attitude towards inclusion, the factor structure of the attitudes, the…

  16. Homogenisation of sulphide inclusions within diamonds: A new approach to diamond inclusion geochemistry

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, Iain; Hughes, Hannah S. R.; Butler, Ian B.; Harris, Jeffrey W.; Muir, Duncan

    2017-11-01

    Base metal sulphide (BMS) inclusions in diamonds provide a unique insight into the chalcophile and highly siderophile element composition of the mantle. Entombed within their diamond hosts, these provide a more robust (closed system) sample, from which to determine the trace element, Re-Os and S-isotopic compositions of the mantle than mantle xenoliths or orogenic peridotites, as they are shielded from alteration during ascent to the Earth's crust and subsequent surface weathering. However, at temperatures below 1100 °C some BMS inclusions undergo subsolidus re-equilibration from an original monosulphide solid solution (Mss) and this causes fractionation of the major and trace elements within the inclusions. Thus to study the subjects noted above, current techniques require the entire BMS inclusion to be extracted for analyses. Unfortunately, 'flaking' of inclusions during break-out is a frequent occurrence and hence the risk of accidentally under-sampling a portion of the BMS inclusion is inherent in current practices. This loss may have significant implications for Re-Os isotope analyses where incomplete sampling of a Re-rich phase, such as chalcopyrite that typically occurs at the outer margins of BMS inclusions, may induce significant bias in the Re-Os and 187Os/188Os measurements and resulting model and isochron ages. We have developed a method for the homogenisation of BMS inclusions in diamond prior to their break-out from the host stone. Diamonds are heated to 1100 °C and then quenched to chemically homogenise any sulphide inclusions for both major and trace elements. Using X-ray Computed Microtomography (μCT) we determine the shape and spatial setting of multiple inclusions within a host stone and crucially show that the volume of a BMS inclusion is the same both before and after homogenisation. We show that the homogenisation process significantly reduces the inherent variability of in situ analysis when compared with unhomogenised BMS, thereby

  17. Limitations of inclusive fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Benjamin; Nowak, Martin A; Wilson, Edward O

    2013-12-10

    Until recently, inclusive fitness has been widely accepted as a general method to explain the evolution of social behavior. Affirming and expanding earlier criticism, we demonstrate that inclusive fitness is instead a limited concept, which exists only for a small subset of evolutionary processes. Inclusive fitness assumes that personal fitness is the sum of additive components caused by individual actions. This assumption does not hold for the majority of evolutionary processes or scenarios. To sidestep this limitation, inclusive fitness theorists have proposed a method using linear regression. On the basis of this method, it is claimed that inclusive fitness theory (i) predicts the direction of allele frequency changes, (ii) reveals the reasons for these changes, (iii) is as general as natural selection, and (iv) provides a universal design principle for evolution. In this paper we evaluate these claims, and show that all of them are unfounded. If the objective is to analyze whether mutations that modify social behavior are favored or opposed by natural selection, then no aspect of inclusive fitness theory is needed.

  18. Diagnosing obesity by body mass index in chronic kidney disease: an explanation for the "obesity paradox?".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Rajiv; Bills, Jennifer E; Light, Robert P

    2010-11-01

    Although obesity is associated with poor outcomes, among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), obesity is related to improved survival. These results may be related to poor diagnostic performance of body mass index (BMI) in assessing body fat content. Accordingly, among 77 patients with CKD and 20 controls, body fat percentage was estimated by air displacement plethysmography (ADP), skinfold thickness, and body impedance analysis. Defined by BMI ≥30 kg/m(2), the prevalence of obesity was 20% in controls and 65% in patients with CKD. Defined by ADP, the prevalence increased to 60% among controls and to 90% among patients with CKD. Although sensitivity and positive predictive value of BMI to diagnose obesity were 100%, specificity was 72%, but the negative predictive value was only 30%. BMI correctly classified adiposity in 75%. Regardless of the presence or absence of CKD, subclinical obesity (defined as BMI value of BMI for obesity, our study may provide an explanation of the "obesity paradox."

  19. Volume of Lytic Vertebral Body Metastatic Disease Quantified Using Computed Tomography–Based Image Segmentation Predicts Fracture Risk After Spine Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thibault, Isabelle [Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier de L' Universite de Québec–Université Laval, Quebec, Quebec (Canada); Whyne, Cari M. [Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Zhou, Stephanie; Campbell, Mikki [Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Atenafu, Eshetu G. [Department of Biostatistics, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Myrehaug, Sten; Soliman, Hany; Lee, Young K. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Ebrahimi, Hamid [Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Yee, Albert J.M. [Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada); Sahgal, Arjun, E-mail: arjun.sahgal@sunnybrook.ca [Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: To determine a threshold of vertebral body (VB) osteolytic or osteoblastic tumor involvement that would predict vertebral compression fracture (VCF) risk after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), using volumetric image-segmentation software. Methods and Materials: A computational semiautomated skeletal metastasis segmentation process refined in our laboratory was applied to the pretreatment planning CT scan of 100 vertebral segments in 55 patients treated with spine SBRT. Each VB was segmented and the percentage of lytic and/or blastic disease by volume determined. Results: The cumulative incidence of VCF at 3 and 12 months was 14.1% and 17.3%, respectively. The median follow-up was 7.3 months (range, 0.6-67.6 months). In all, 56% of segments were determined lytic, 23% blastic, and 21% mixed, according to clinical radiologic determination. Within these 3 clinical cohorts, the segmentation-determined mean percentages of lytic and blastic tumor were 8.9% and 6.0%, 0.2% and 26.9%, and 3.4% and 15.8% by volume, respectively. On the basis of the entire cohort (n=100), a significant association was observed for the osteolytic percentage measures and the occurrence of VCF (P<.001) but not for the osteoblastic measures. The most significant lytic disease threshold was observed at ≥11.6% (odds ratio 37.4, 95% confidence interval 9.4-148.9). On multivariable analysis, ≥11.6% lytic disease (P<.001), baseline VCF (P<.001), and SBRT with ≥20 Gy per fraction (P=.014) were predictive. Conclusions: Pretreatment lytic VB disease volumetric measures, independent of the blastic component, predict for SBRT-induced VCF. Larger-scale trials evaluating our software are planned to validate the results.

  20. Cross-sex hormone therapy in transgender persons affects total body weight, body fat and lean body mass: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klaver, M; Dekker, M J H J; de Mutsert, R; Twisk, J W R; den Heijer, M

    2017-06-01

    Weight gain and body fat increase the risk of cardiometabolic disease. Cross-sex hormone therapy in transgender persons leads to changes in body weight and body composition, but it is unclear to what extent. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the changes in body weight, body fat and lean body mass during cross-sex hormone therapy in transgender persons. We searched the PubMed database for eligible studies until November 2015. Ten studies reporting changes in body weight, body fat or lean mass in hormone naive transgender persons were included, examining 171 male-to-female and 354 female-to-male transgender people. Pooled effect estimates in the male-to-female group were +1.8 kg (95% CI: 0.2;3.4) for body weight, +3.0 kg (2.0;3.9) for body fat and -2.4 kg (-2.8; -2.1) for lean body mass. In the female-to-male group, body weight changed with +1.7 kg (0.7;2.7), body fat with -2.6 kg (-3.9; -1.4) and lean body mass with +3.9 kg (3.2;4.5). Cross-sex hormone therapy increases body weight in both sexes. In the male-to-female group, a gain in body fat and a decline in lean body mass are observed, while the opposite effects are seen in the female-to-male group. Possibly, these changes increase the risk of cardiometabolic disease in the male-to-female group. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  1. FaCE: a tool for Three Body Faddeev calculations with core excitation

    OpenAIRE

    Thompson, I. J.; Nunes, F. M.; Danilin, B. V.

    2004-01-01

    FaCE is a self contained programme, with namelist input, that solves the three body Faddeev equations. It enables the inclusion of excitation of one of the three bodies, whilst the other two remain inert. It is particularly useful for obtaining the binding energies and bound state structure compositions of light exotic nuclei treated as three-body systems, given the three effective two body interactions. A large variety of forms for these interactions may be defined, and supersymmetric transf...

  2. Difference, inclusion, and mathematics education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Figueiras, Lourdes; Healy, Lulu; Skovsmose, Ole

    2016-01-01

    The round-table discussion on Difference, Inclusion and Mathematics Education was in included in the scientific programme of VI SIPEM in recognition and celebration of the emerging body of research into the challenges of building a culture of mathematics education which values and respects...... the diversity of learners in different educational contexts – in Brazil and beyond. This paper presents the contributions to the discussion, which focus on the problematisation of the term “inclusion”, explorations of how the practices of previously marginalized students can bring new resources to the teaching...... and learning of mathematics and reflections upon the potentially discriminatory nature of the structures which currently mould school mathematics. The paper aims to serve as material for the developing research agenda of the thirteenth working group of the Brazilian Society of Mathematics Education, which met...

  3. Irradiation history of meteoritic inclusions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wielandt, Daniel Kim Peel

    Understanding the formation and earliest evolution of our solar system is a longstanding goal shared by cosmochemistry, astronomy and astrophysics. Meteorites play a key role in this pursuit, providing a ground truth against which all theories must be weighed. Chondritic meteorites are in essence...... extraterrestrial sediments that contain Calcium-Aluminium-rich Inclusions (CAIs) and chondrules that formed as individual objects during the earliest stages of solar system evolution. They later accreted together to form large bodies, after spending up to several million years in individual orbit around the proto...... of presolar and protosolar materials, as well as evidence for the former presence of over 10 extinct shortlived radionuclei of varying stability and provenance that play a key role in deciphering early solar system evolution. Some shortlived radionuclei, such as 60Fe (T½ 2.5 Myr), must have formed...

  4. Fowl adenovirus-induced diseases and strategies for their control - a review on the current global situation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schachner, Anna; Matos, Miguel; Grafl, Beatrice; Hess, Michael

    2018-04-01

    The stand-alone pathogenicity of fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs) had long been disputed, given the ubiquity of the viruses versus sporadic outbreaks, and variation between experimental studies. However, a globally emerging trend of FAdV-associated diseases has marked the past two decades, with hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome mainly in Asia besides Arabian and Latin American countries, and geographically more disseminated outbreaks of inclusion body hepatitis. Finally, the appearance of FAdV-induced gizzard erosion (AGE) in Asia and Europe completed the range of diseases. Epidemiological studies confirmed serotype FAdV-4 as agent of hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome, whereas inclusion body hepatitis is related to FAdV-2, -8a, -8b and -11. Members of the biologically more distant serotype FAdV-1 induce AGE. Urged by increasing problems in the field, numerous pathogenicity studies with FAdVs from outbreaks substantiated the primary aetiologic role of particular strains for distinct clinical conditions. Developments in the poultry industry towards highly specialized genetic breeds and rigorous biosecurity additionally contribute to the growing incidence of FAdV-related diseases. Confirming field observations, recent studies connected a higher susceptibility of broilers with their distinct physiology, implying the choice of bird type as a factor to be considered in infection studies. Furthermore, elevated biosecurity standards have generated immunologically naïve breeding stocks, putting broilers at risk in face of vertical FAdV transmission. Therefore, future prevention strategies should include adequate antibodies in breeders prior to production and - if necessary - vaccination, in order to protect progenies. This review aims to deliver a detailed overview on the current global situation about FAdV-induced diseases, their reproduction in vivo and vaccination strategies.

  5. Influence of crystallization conditions on formation and distribution of nonmetallic inclusions in steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Efimov, V.A.

    1977-01-01

    The processes were studied of the formation and the distribution of nonmetallic inclusions and the chemical inhomogeneity formation during the solidification of h steel. The variation of the character of oxides and sulfides across ingots was shown by considering st 25 and 20 Kh steels. To improve the distribution of inclusions and the stability of properties throughout the body of ingots, it is recommended to throughly deoxidize the metal, to raise the rate of solidification, to reduce the temperature gradient, to employ powder cooling agents, to use casting under a blanket of slag, to modify steel by active elements (r.e.e., Ca, Ba, Zr, B) which affect favourably the nature and the shape of the nonmetallic phase

  6. Inclusive innovation: a research project on the inclusion of social responsibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijhof, A.H.J.; Fisscher, O.A.M.; de Bakker, F.G.A.

    2001-01-01

    The research project 'Inclusive Innovation' aims at stimulating dialogue about inclusion of social responsibility based on universal human rights in the conduct of business. This dialogue concerns both the communication within the organisation and between the organisation and interested parties in

  7. Whole body cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to stratify symptomatic and asymptomatic atherosclerotic burden in patients with isolated cardiovascular disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weir-McCall, Jonathan R.; Duce, Suzanne L.; Gandy, Stephen J.; Matthew, Shona Z.; Martin, Patricia; Cassidy, Deirdre B.; McCormick, Lynne; Belch, Jill J. F.; Struthers, Allan D.; Colhoun, Helen M.; Houston, J. Graeme

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to use whole body cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (WB CVMR) to assess the heart and arterial network in a single examination, so as to describe the burden of atherosclerosis and subclinical disease in participants with symptomatic single site vascular disease. 64 patients with a history of symptomatic single site vascular disease (38 coronary artery disease (CAD), 9 cerebrovascular disease, 17 peripheral arterial disease (PAD)) underwent whole body angiogram and cardiac MR in a 3 T scanner. The arterial tree was subdivided into 31 segments and each scored according to the degree of stenosis. From this a standardised atheroma score (SAS) was calculated. Cine and late gadolinium enhancement images of the left ventricle were obtained. Asymptomatic atherosclerotic disease with greater than 50 % stenosis in arteries other than that responsible for their presenting complain was detected in 37 % of CAD, 33 % of cerebrovascular and 47 % of PAD patients. Unrecognised myocardial infarcts were observed in 29 % of PAD patients. SAS was significantly higher in PAD patients 24 (17.5-30.5) compared to CAD 4 (2–11.25) or cerebrovascular disease patients 6 (2-10) (ANCOVA p < 0.001). Standardised atheroma score positively correlated with age (β 0.36 p = 0.002), smoking status (β 0.34 p = 0.002), and LV mass (β -0.61 p = 0.001) on multiple linear regression. WB CVMR is an effective method for the stratification of cardiovascular disease. The high prevalence of asymptomatic arterial disease, and silent myocardial infarctions, particularly in the peripheral arterial disease group, demonstrates the importance of a systematic approach to the assessment of cardiovascular disease

  8. TDP-43 is a component of ubiquitin-positive tau-negative inclusions in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arai, Tetsuaki; Hasegawa, Masato; Akiyama, Haruhiko; Ikeda, Kenji; Nonaka, Takashi; Mori, Hiroshi; Mann, David; Tsuchiya, Kuniaki; Yoshida, Mari; Hashizume, Yoshio; Oda, Tatsuro

    2006-01-01

    Ubiquitin-positive tau-negative neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and dystrophic neurites are common pathological features in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) with or without symptoms of motor neuron disease and in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Using biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses, we have identified a TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43), a nuclear factor that functions in regulating transcription and alternative splicing, as a component of these structures in FTLD. Furthermore, skein-like inclusions, neuronal intranuclear inclusions, and glial inclusions in the spinal cord of ALS patients are also positive for TDP-43. Dephosphorylation treatment of the sarkosyl insoluble fraction has shown that abnormal phosphorylation takes place in accumulated TDP-43. The common occurrence of intracellular accumulations of TDP-43 supports the hypothesis that these disorders represent a clinicopathological entity of a single disease, and suggests that they can be newly classified as a proteinopathy of TDP-43

  9. Improved clinical status, quality of life, and walking capacity in Parkinson's disease after body weight-supported high-intensity locomotor training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Martin H; Løkkegaard, Annemette; Sonne-Holm, Stig; Jensen, Bente R

    2013-04-01

    To evaluate the effect of body weight-supported progressive high-intensity locomotor training in Parkinson's disease (PD) on (1) clinical status; (2) quality of life; and (3) gait capacity. Open-label, fixed sequence crossover study. University motor control laboratory. Patients (N=13) with idiopathic PD (Hoehn and Yahr stage 2 or 3) and stable medication use. Patients completed an 8-week (3 × 1h/wk) training program on a lower-body positive-pressure treadmill. Body weight support was used to facilitate increased intensity and motor challenges during treadmill training. The training program contained combinations of (1) running and walking intervals, (2) the use of sudden changes (eg, in body weight support and speed), (3) different types of locomotion (eg, chassé, skipping, and jumps), and (4) sprints at 50 percent body weight. The Movement Disorders Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 items (PDQ-39), and the six-minute walk test were conducted 8 weeks before and pre- and posttraining. At the end of training, statistically significant improvements were found in all outcome measures compared with the control period. Total MDS-UPDRS score changed from (mean ± 1SD) 58±18 to 47±18, MDS-UPDRS motor part score changed from 35±10 to 29±12, PDQ-39 summary index score changed from 22±13 to 13±12, and the six-minute walking distance changed from 576±93 to 637±90m. Body weight-supported progressive high-intensity locomotor training is feasible and well tolerated by patients with PD. The training improved clinical status, quality of life, and gait capacity significantly. Copyright © 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Financial inclusion: Policies and practices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thankom Arun

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available As a key enabler for development, financial inclusion is firmly placed on the agenda of most governments as a key policy priority. Against this background, this round table provides a global and regional perspective on the policies and practices of financial inclusion. Using macro data, the collection reveals the diversity in the efforts towards achieving financial inclusion and the need for a progressive approach in financial inclusion. Further to this, the round table provides the regional perspectives on the policies and practices of financial inclusion in India, South Africa, and Australia.

  11. Application of 18F-FDG PET for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klisarova, A.; Bochev, P.; Deleva, N.; Dimitrov, I.; Ivanov, B.

    2010-01-01

    Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia are the two most frequent disorders among degenerative dementias. Their clinical identification and differential diagnosis are often difficult in the early stages when, on the other hand treatment is most effective. FDG-PET assessment of region brain metabolism is a proven method and its application demented patients ensures a higher diagnostic accuracy even at the preclinical stage. It helps resolving cases with difficult differential diagnosis as well. In this paper we discuss the application of the method in Alzheimer's disease and Lev body dementia; we present typical cases of both disorder which were assessed by FDG-PET for the first time in Bulgaria highlighting the methodology and the characteristic imaging findings

  12. Neutral weak-current two-body contributions in inclusive scattering from {sup 12}C

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lovato, Alessandro [ANL; Gandolfi, Stefano [LANL; Carlson, Joseph [LANL; Pieper, S. C. [ANL; Schiavilla, Rocco [JLAB, ODU

    2014-05-01

    An {\\it ab initio} calculation of the sum rules of the neutral weak response functions in $^{12}$C is reported, based on a realistic Hamiltonian, including two- and three-nucleon potentials, and on realistic currents, consisting of one- and two-body terms. We find that the sum rules of the response functions associated with the longitudinal and transverse components of the (space-like) neutral current are largest and that a significant portion ($\\simeq 30$\\%) of the calculated strength is due to two-body terms. This fact may have implications for the MiniBooNE and other neutrino quasi-elastic scattering data on nuclei.

  13. INCLUSIVE CULTURE IN PRE-SCHOOL INSTITUTIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irena NOVACHEVSKA

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Inclusive education is a rational concept that refers to the overall and long-term transformation of institutional systems in society, especially in education. Along with the transformation, a number of important and unresolved issues still appear in both theory and practice, as the duty of pre-school institutions and schools is to educate every student in the mainstream education system. One of the most important aspects of inclusion is the inclusive culture. Regardless of the good inclusive policy and practice, one cannot talk about successful inclusion without a properly developed inclusive institutional culture.This paper is a contribution to the research considering the development of inclusive culture in three preschool institutions. It is based on the thinking and attitudes of the pre­school staff toward the necessity of developing and nurturing an inclusive culture. Successful inclusion of pupils with special needs in the mainstream school system cannot be conceived without an inclusive culture.

  14. Utility of whole-body (head-to-toe) PET/CT in the evaluation of melanoma and sarcoma patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Heather R; Latifi, Hamid R; Griffeth, Landis K

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this study was to assess the added benefit of whole-body (head-to-toes) PET/CT versus routine 'eyes-to-thighs' PET/CT of melanoma and sarcoma patients. We performed a retrospective review of consecutive whole-body PET/CT scans from January 2006 through December 2010 in patients with melanoma or sarcoma. PET abnormalities in the brain, distal thighs, and legs were recorded and clinical significance was assessed on the basis of pathology, imaging studies, and clinical follow-up. Patients with known primary lesions distal to the proximal femora were excluded as these patients would routinely undergo 'head-to-toe' PET/CT. We reviewed reports from 352 PET/CT examinations in 194 patients with melanoma and 75 PET/CT examinations in 44 patients with sarcoma. Melanoma: 13 patients had brain metastases on PET. In five of these patients, lesions were unknown, but all were in the setting of other metastatic disease. Twenty-seven patients had lower extremity metastases, all in the setting of other metastatic disease. No lower extremity metastases were found in the remaining 167 patients. Sarcoma: one patient had an isolated, unexpected brain metastasis. Six patients had leg metastases, but none were isolated. No lower extremity metastases were found in the remaining 38 patients. In patients with melanoma and sarcoma, inclusion of entire lower extremities adds little additional clinical value as detection of isolated, unexpected metastasis is rare. Brain imaging may add value as the presence of brain metastases alters clinical management. Overall, in patients with melanoma or sarcoma, whole-brain PET/CT imaging may be of value, but routine inclusion of the entire lower extremities adds little additional value.

  15. Two-body tensor interactions in the nuclear matter response function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Besprosvany, J.

    1997-01-01

    The inclusive scattering response of nuclear matter is studied in the regime of large momentum transfer q, and around the quasielastic peak. We review interaction corrections to free propagation as embodied in the impulse approximation. Calculations of the two-body and many-body corrections within an eikonal approach are presented. These use an approximated two-body density matrix which takes account of spin and isospin degrees of freedom. Both calculations give similar and sizable corrections at q = 550 MeV and reproduce data extrapolated from finite nuclei; this indicates the relevance of two-body tensor contributions in this regime. (Author)

  16. Exercise for Individuals with Lewy Body Dementia: A Systematic Review.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Inskip

    Full Text Available Individuals with Lewy body Dementia (LBD, which encompasses both Parkinson disease dementia (PDD and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB experience functional decline through Parkinsonism and sedentariness exacerbated by motor, psychiatric and cognitive symptoms. Exercise may improve functional outcomes in Parkinson's disease (PD, and Alzheimer's disease (AD. However, the multi-domain nature of the LBD cluster of symptoms (physical, cognitive, psychiatric, autonomic results in vulnerable individuals often being excluded from exercise studies evaluating physical function in PD or cognitive function in dementia to avoid confounding results. This review evaluated existing literature reporting the effects of exercise interventions or physical activity (PA exposure on cluster symptoms in LBD.A high-sensitivity search was executed across 19 databases. Full-length articles of any language and quality, published or unpublished, that analysed effects of isolated exercise/physical activity on indicative Dementia with Lewy Bodies or PD-dementia cohorts were evaluated for outcomes inclusive of physical, cognitive, psychiatric, physiological and quality of life measures. The protocol for this review (Reg. #: CRD42015019002 is accessible at http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/.111,485 articles were initially retrieved; 288 full articles were reviewed and 89.6% subsequently deemed ineligible due to exclusion of participants with co-existence of dementia and Parkinsonism. Five studies (1 uncontrolled trial, 1 randomized controlled trial and 3 case reports evaluating 16 participants were included. Interventions were diverse and outcome homogeneity was low. Habitual gait speed outcomes were measured in 13 participants and increased (0.18m/s, 95% CI -0.02, 0.38m/s, exceeding moderate important change (0.14m/s for PD cohorts. Other outcomes appeared to improve modestly in most participants.Scarce research investigating exercise in LBD exists. This review confirms

  17. Time dependent mean field approximation to the many-body S-matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alhassid, Y.; Koonin, S.E.

    1980-01-01

    Time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) calculations are a good description of some inclusive properties of deep inelastic heavy-ion collisions. The first steps toward a mean-field theory that approximates specific elements of the many-body S matrix are presented. A many-body system with pairwise interactions excited by an external, time-dependent one-body field is considered. The methods are used to solve the forced Lipkin model. The moduli of elastic and excitation amplitudes are plotted. 3 figures

  18. Fluid inclusion geothermometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cunningham, C.G.

    1977-01-01

    Fluid inclusions trapped within crystals either during growth or at a later time provide many clues to the histories of rocks and ores. Estimates of fluid-inclusion homogenization temperature and density can be obtained using a petrographic microscope with thin sections, and they can be refined using heating and freezing stages. Fluid inclusion studies, used in conjunction with paragenetic studies, can provide direct data on the time and space variations of parameters such as temperature, pressure, density, and composition of fluids in geologic environments. Changes in these parameters directly affect the fugacity, composition, and pH of fluids, thus directly influencing localization of ore metals. ?? 1977 Ferdinand Enke Verlag Stuttgart.

  19. Becoming Inclusive: A Code of Conduct for Inclusion and Diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Bonnie J; MacWilliams, Brent R; Neal-Boylan, Leslie

    There are increasing concerns about exclusionary behaviors and lack of diversity in the nursing profession. Exclusionary behaviors, which may include incivility, bullying, and workplace violence, discriminate and isolate individuals and groups who are different, whereas inclusive behaviors encourage diversity. To address inclusion and diversity in nursing, this article offers a code of conduct. This code of conduct builds on existing nursing codes of ethics and applies to nursing students and nurses in both educational and practice settings. Inclusive behaviors that are demonstrated in nurses' relationships with patients, colleagues, the profession, and society are described. This code of conduct provides a basis for measureable change, empowerment, and unification of the profession. Recommendations, implications, and a pledge to action are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. SUPPORT IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

    OpenAIRE

    Belma Čičkušić; Ševala Tulumović; Selma Bakić; Salem Bakić

    2016-01-01

    In order for inclusive class to be successful, associates are of great help to teachers. Besides associates, teachers' specialization can be accomplished through educational seminars on the inclusion topic. However, information about inclusion, working with children with special needs, can also be found in scientific journals that offer more information on methods of working with children with special needs, didactic materials customized according to abilities of children. Aim of ...

  1. Cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body spectrum disorders: the emerging pharmacogenetic story

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lam Benjamin

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This review provides an update on the current state of pharmacogenetic research in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD and Lewy body disease (LBD as it pertains to the use of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI. AD and LBD are first reviewed from clinical and pathophysiological perspectives. This is followed by a discussion of ChEIs used in the symptomatic treatment of these conditions, focusing on their unique and overlapping pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles, which can be used to identify candidate genes for pharmacogenetics studies. The literature published to date is then reviewed and limitations are discussed. This is followed by a discussion of potential endophenotypes which may help to refine future pharmacogenetic studies of response and adverse effects to ChEIs.

  2. Detrimental and protective fat: body fat distribution and its relation to metabolic disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Booth, Andrea; Magnuson, Aaron; Foster, Michelle

    2014-01-01

    Obesity is linked to numerous comorbidities that include, but are not limited to, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. Current evidence suggests, however, obesity itself is not an exclusive predictor of metabolic dysregulation but rather adipose tissue distribution. Obesity-related adverse health consequences occur predominately in individuals with upper body fat accumulation, the detrimental distribution, commonly associated with visceral obesity. Increased lower body subcutaneous adipose tissue, however, is associated with a reduced risk of obesity-induced metabolic dysregulation and even enhanced insulin sensitivity, thus, storage in this region is considered protective. The proposed mechanisms that causally relate the differential outcomes of adipose tissue distribution are often attributed to location and/or adipocyte regulation. Visceral adipose tissue effluent to the portal vein drains into the liver where hepatocytes are directly exposed to its metabolites and secretory products, whereas the subcutaneous adipose tissue drains systemically. Adipose depots are also inherently different in numerous ways such as adipokine release, immunity response and regulation, lipid turnover, rate of cell growth and death, and response to stress and sex hormones. Proximal extrinsic factors also play a role in the differential drive between adipose tissue depots. This review focuses on the deleterious mechanisms postulated to drive the differential metabolic response between central and lower body adipose tissue distribution.

  3. Stiffening solids with liquid inclusions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Style, Robert W.; Boltyanskiy, Rostislav; Allen, Benjamin; Jensen, Katharine E.; Foote, Henry P.; Wettlaufer, John S.; Dufresne, Eric R.

    2015-01-01

    From bone and wood to concrete and carbon fibre, composites are ubiquitous natural and synthetic materials. Eshelby’s inclusion theory describes how macroscopic stress fields couple to isolated microscopic inclusions, allowing prediction of a composite’s bulk mechanical properties from a knowledge of its microstructure. It has been extended to describe a wide variety of phenomena from solid fracture to cell adhesion. Here, we show experimentally and theoretically that Eshelby’s theory breaks down for small liquid inclusions in a soft solid. In this limit, an isolated droplet’s deformation is strongly size-dependent, with the smallest droplets mimicking the behaviour of solid inclusions. Furthermore, in opposition to the predictions of conventional composite theory, we find that finite concentrations of small liquid inclusions enhance the stiffness of soft solids. A straightforward extension of Eshelby’s theory, accounting for the surface tension of the solid-liquid interface, explains our experimental observations. The counterintuitive stiffening of solids by fluid inclusions is expected whenever inclusion radii are smaller than an elastocapillary length, given by the ratio of the surface tension to Young’s modulus of the solid matrix. These results suggest that surface tension can be a simple and effective mechanism to cloak the far-field elastic signature of inclusions.

  4. Inclusive education and social exclusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Luisa Bissoto

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is critically examining assumptions underlying the Inclusive Education concept, arguing that this can only be effectively considered when understood in a broader context of social inclusion and exclusion. Methodologically, this article relies on international documents and bibliographic references about Inclusive Education, that have been chosen by systematize and characterize different social and educational inclusive practices, encouraging the elaboration of a general overview on this topic. The results of this analysis conclude that it is essential for Inclusive Education that educational institutions review their goals and reasons of social existence. In the concluding remarks it is argued that education is better understood as the act of encouraging and welcoming the efforts of individuals in their attempts to engage in social networking, which sustains life. This includes the acceptance of other reality interpretations and understanding that educational action cannot be restricted by the walls of institutions. It requires the participation of the whole community. Action perspectives likely to promote social inclusion and inclusive education are suggested.

  5. RISKS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Husnutdinova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Inclusion is a new and unfamiliar phenomenon for most of the Russians which is treated as ensuring equal access to education for all students taking into account a variety of their special educational needs and individual capabilities. Inclusive educational model began to take root in Russia without a broad public debate and today’s parents and teachers were not ready to the cardinal changes caused by transition to the new model of education. In this regard, the studying of directly educational process by consequences of inclusive training and education is urgent now.The aims of the research are the following: to identify the major risks that characterize the current stage of the implementation process of inclusion in the Russian educational organizations; to consider the main causes that lead to their occurrence; to present a comparative analysis of the views of respondents in comprehensive, inclusive and correctional schools. Methodology and research methods. The Sector Monitoring Studies of Moscow State University of Psychology & Education in 2010 and 2014 implemented a sociological study on the process of introduction of inclusion in the Russian schools. 200 teachers and 244 parents were interviewed in 2010; in 2014, in addition, 178 teachers and 386 parents were interviewed; 47 senior students including those with disabilities were interviewed too.Results. According to the results, the main concerns of the parents of students of comprehensive, inclusive and correctional schools are reduced to a few basic risks: lack of individual approach while teaching children with different educational needs, increased emotional pressure on the child, and child’s perception of the complexity of disability as an equal. These risks arise primarily because of the acute shortage of especially prepared-governmental teachers and socio-cultural, psychological unpreparedness of most contemporary children with disabilities to the perception of

  6. Studies of Se-75 labelled bile acid analogue absorption in different forms of gastrointestinal diseases using a whole body counter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grebe, S.F.; Sattler, E.L.; Rinkenberger, C.; Bodenmueller, D.; Grebe, S.K.G.; Mueller, K.D.; Mueller, H.; Faengewisch, G.L.; Heckers, H.; Steckenmesser, R.

    1996-01-01

    It is possible to detect disturbances of bile acid absorption using a whole body counter after administration of Se-75 labelled bile acid analogues. We scrutinized the benefit of a modification of the test method. We investigated 77 patients with different forms of a gastrointestinal disease. After application of Se 75 homotaurocholic acid we measured patient-activity up to 7 days later including whole-body profile scans in the first 6 h. The fractional retention after 7 days was between 20 and 67%. In cases of impaired absorption it was below 12%. Patients with liver diseases and afer cholecystectomy (without bile acid resorption disturbance) showed normal values. Patients with Crohn's disease of the ileum or with intestinal ileas by-pass or with colestyramine treatment or with disturbance of vitamin B12-absorption or with cystic fibrosis showed a disturbance of bile acid absorption. The normal whole-body half-life was more than 2.8 days. The 24 and 72 h values were 62 and 31% in cases with normal absorption. Smaller values are signs of bile acid malabsorption. Impulse rates measured with the whole body counter are of an order of magnitude that allows to reduce the usually administered dose of 37 kBq to 9.25 kBq. This is an efficient method to detect disturbances of bile acid absorption. The usually adminstered activity of 37 kBq can be reduced to 9.25 kBq. (orig./MG) [de

  7. Therapeutic use of fractionated total body and subtotal body irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loeffler, R.K.

    1981-01-01

    Ninety-one patients were treated using fractionated subtotal body (STBI) or total body irradiation (TBI). These patients had generalized lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease, leukemias, myelomas, seminomas, or oat-cell carcinomas. Subtotal body irradiation is delivered to the entire body, except for the skull and extremities. It was expected that a significantly higher radiation dose could be administered with STBI than with TBI. A five- to ten-fold increase in tolerance for STBI was demonstrated. Many of these patients have had long-term emissions. There is little or no treatment-induced symptomatology, and no sanctuary sites

  8. Foresighting for Inclusive Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Allan Dahl; Andersen, Per Dannemand

    2017-01-01

    of policymaking processes affects the actual process with a focus on inclusion, and we discuss how it affects policy effectiveness and innovation system transformation. Our argument is that processes of policymaking must be inclusive to affect and transform innovation systems because a set of distributed actors...... in foresight cases in two emerging economies: Brazil and South Korea. We conclude that better systemic and innovation oriented foresight is needed to enhance inclusive development....

  9. Low whole-body insulin sensitivity in patients with ischaemic heart disease is associated with impaired myocardial glucose uptake predictive of poor outcome after revascularisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kofoed, Klaus F; Carstensen, Steen; Hove, Jens D

    2002-01-01

    patients with ischaemic heart disease and impaired LV ejection fraction (EF) and age-matched healthy volunteers ( n = 30). As assessed by euglycaemic glucose-insulin clamp, 15 patients had a low and 14 a normal whole-body insulin sensitivity. Using positron emission tomography, patterns of fluorine-18......We tested the hypothesis that low whole-body insulin sensitivity in patients with ischaemic heart disease and impaired left ventricular (LV) function is associated with abnormalities of insulin-mediated myocardial glucose uptake affecting outcome after coronary bypass surgery (CABG). We studied 29......-normal myocardium was found to be higher in patients with normal whole-body insulin sensitivity ( P body insulin sensitivity more segments displayed a pattern of reduced glucose uptake in normoperfused myocardium (PET-reverse mismatch) ( P

  10. Carotid body, insulin and metabolic diseases: unravelling the links

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia V Conde

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The carotid bodies (CB are peripheral chemoreceptors that sense changes in arterial blood O2, CO2 and pH levels. Hypoxia, hypercapnia and acidosis activate the CB, which respond by increasing the action potential frequency in their sensory nerve, the carotid sinus nerve (CSN. CSN activity is integrated in the brain stem to induce a panoply of cardiorespiratory reflexes aimed, primarily, to normalize the altered blood gases, via hyperventilation, and to regulate blood pressure and cardiac performance, via sympathetic nervous system (SNS activation. Besides its role in the cardiorespiratory control the CB has been proposed as a metabolic sensor implicated in the control of energy homeostasis and, more recently, in the regulation of whole body insulin sensitivity. Hypercaloric diets cause CB overactivation in rats, which seems to be at the origin of the development of insulin resistance and hypertension, core features of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Consistent with this notion, CB sensory denervation prevents metabolic and hemodynamic alterations in hypercaloric feed animal. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA is another chronic disorder characterized by increased CB activity and intimately related with several metabolic and cardiovascular abnormalities. In this manuscript we review in a concise manner the putative pathways linking CB chemoreceptors deregulation with the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and arterial hypertension. Also, the link between chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH and insulin resistance is discussed. Then, a final section is devoted to debate strategies to reduce CB activity and its use for prevention and therapeutics of metabolic diseases with an emphasis on new exciting research in the modulation of bioelectronic signals, likely to be central in the future.

  11. [Renal diseases related to MYH9 disorders].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galeano, Dario; Zanoli, Luca; L'Imperio, Vincenzo; Fatuzzo, Pasquale; Granata, Antonio

    2017-04-01

    Mutations in MYH9 gene encoding the nonmuscle myosin heavy chain IIA (NMMHC-IIA) are related to a number of rare autosomal-dominant disorders which has been known as May-Hegglin disease, Sebastian syndrome, Fechtner syndrome and Epstein syndrome. Their common clinical features are congenital macrothrombocytopaenia and polymorphonuclear inclusion bodies, in addition to a variable risk of developing proteinuria, chronic kidney disease progressing toward end stage, sensorineural deafness and presenile cataracts. The term MYH9 related disease (MYH9-RD) describes the variable expression of a single illness encompassing all previously mentioned hereditary disorders. Renal involvement in MYH9- RD has been observed in 30% of patients. Mutant MYH9 protein, expressed in podocytes, mesangial and tubular cells, plays a main role in foot process effacement and in development of nephropathy. Interestingly, the MYH9 gene is currently under investigation also for his possible contribution to many other non-hereditary glomerulopathies such as focal global glomerulosclerosis (hypertensive nephrosclerosis), idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, C1q nephropathy and HIV-associated nephropathy. In this review we are aimed to describe renal diseases related to MYH9 disorders, from the hereditary disease to the acquired disorders, in which MYH9-gene acts as a "renal failure susceptibility gene". Copyright by Società Italiana di Nefrologia SIN, Rome, Italy.

  12. Competence of Inclusive Practices: ICT and Inclusive Education in Professional Teacher Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika Viviana Laiton Zarate

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to design the “Competence of Inclusive Practices” which was articulated to the route of the “ICT Competences for Professional Teacher Development,” of the Ministry of Education of Colombia (2013, and thus to fully evaluate 30 teachers of an educational institution in the city of Bucaramanga, in order to recognize their individual or collective training needs, and to formulate appropriate interventions. The research was supported theoretically in guidelines offered by the Ministry of Education of Colombia, the Index for Inclusive Education (Booth and Ainscow, 2011, and empirical researches developed in Latin American countries, including Colombia. The research approach was quantitative, with a descriptive design, which allowed to establish that Inclusive Practices Competence integrated pertinently postures of inclusive education and criteria of the functional framework of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT in education; in addition, it made it possible to know teachers’ perception of the level of competence in relation to the competence level they were (placed; they stated to be located at a low level (explorer in the development of skills for Inclusive Practices Competence.

  13. Effect of garlic powder consumption on body composition in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Davood Soleimani

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD is the most common chronic liver disease that is becoming a public health problem in recent decades. Obesity and overweight play a key role in NAFLD pathogenesis. Thus, weight loss (especially body fat mass is one component of therapeutic strategies in NAFLD. Results from experimental studies have shown that garlic (Allium sativum L. can reduce body weight and body fat mass. However, the effect of garlic on body fat mass and weight in the human population, which is addressed in this study, is still obscure. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 110 subjects with NAFLD were randomly assigned to the intervention or the control group. The intervention group received two garlic tablets (containing 400 mg of garlic powder daily while the control group received placebo tablets. Dietary intake and physical activity of participants were obtained by a validated questionnaire. Body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Results: In the intervention group, significant reductions were observed in body weight and body fat mass (P 0.05. In the intervention group, the percentage change in body weight was significantly greater than the control group (−2.6 vs. −0.7, P = 0.02. No serious side effects associated with the intervention were reported. Conclusion: Our trial suggests that garlic supplementation can reduce body weight and fat mass among subjects with NAFLD.

  14. Recent HERMES results from inclusive and semi-inclusive hadron production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Van Hulse Charlotte

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Hermes collected a wealth of data using the 27.6 GeV polarized Hera lepton beam and various pure, polarized and unpolarized, gaseous targets. This unique data set opens the door to various measurements sensitive to the multi-dimensional structure of the nucleon. Among them are two-hadron production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering on a transversely polarized target, providing access to different transverse-momentum-dependent distribution and fragmentation functions in a way complementary to single-hadron production. Also transverse-target single-spin asymmetries in inclusive electroproduction of charged pions and kaons have been recently extracted, complementing data from proton-proton collisions, where large, so far unexplained, asymmetries have been observed. From inclusive measurements on various nuclear targets, the Λ polarization is extracted, also here complementing measurements in proton-proton collisions.

  15. Exercise body surface potential mapping in single and multiple coronary artery disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montague, T.J.; Witkowski, F.X.; Miller, R.M.; Johnstone, D.E.; MacKenzie, R.B.; Spencer, C.A.; Horacek, B.M.

    1990-01-01

    Body surface ST integral maps were recorded in 36 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients at: rest; peak, angina-limited exercise; and, 1 and 5 min of recovery. They were compared to maps of 15 CAD patients who exercised to fatigue, without angina, and eight normal subjects. Peak exercise heart rates were similar (NS) in all groups. With exercise angina, patients with two and three vessel CAD had significantly (p less than 0.05) greater decrease in the body surface sum of ST integral values than patients with single vessel CAD. CAD patients with exercise fatigue, in the absence of angina, had decreased ST integrals similar (NS) to patients with single vessel CAD who manifested angina and the normal control subjects. There was, however, considerable overlap among individuals; some patients with single vessel CAD had as much exercise ST integral decrease as patients with three vessel CAD. All CAD patients had persistent ST integral decreases at 5 min of recovery and there was a direct correlation of the recovery and peak exercise ST changes. Exercise ST changes correlated, as well, with quantitative CAD angiographic scores, but not with thallium perfusion scores. These data suggest exercise ST integral body surface mapping allows quantitation of myocardium at ischemic risk in patients with CAD, irrespective of the presence or absence of ischemic symptoms during exercise. A major potential application of this technique is selection of CAD therapy guided by quantitative assessment of ischemic myocardial risk

  16. Removal of inclusions from silicon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciftja, Arjan; Engh, Thorvald Abel; Tangstad, Merete; Kvithyld, Anne; Øvrelid, Eivind Johannes

    2009-11-01

    The removal of inclusions from molten silicon is necessary to satisfy the purity requirements for solar grade silicon. This paper summarizes two methods that are investigated: (i) settling of the inclusions followed by subsequent directional solidification and (infiltration by ceramic foam filters. Settling of inclusions followed by directional solidification is of industrial importance for production of low-cost solar grade silicon. Filtration is reported as the most efficient method for removal of inclusions from the top-cut silicon scrap.

  17. Financial inclusion: Policies and practices

    OpenAIRE

    Thankom Arun; Rajalaxmi Kamath

    2015-01-01

    As a key enabler for development, financial inclusion is firmly placed on the agenda of most governments as a key policy priority. Against this background, this round table provides a global and regional perspective on the policies and practices of financial inclusion. Using macro data, the collection reveals the diversity in the efforts towards achieving financial inclusion and the need for a progressive approach in financial inclusion. Further to this, the round table provides the regional ...

  18. Supporting Teachers in Inclusive Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alekhina S.V.

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The article regards the issues of support provision to teachers involved in inclusive education as the main requirement for successful realization of inclusion. The methodological framework used in the study is a resource approach. The article describes the ways of extending the means of supporting teachers. The article also arguments for consolidating all the educators of inclusive schools into inclusive teams equally interested in joint work of administration and educators of intervention programs.

  19. Toward an Inclusive, Congruent, and Precise Definition of Autoinflammatory Diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wekell, Per; Berg, Stefan; Karlsson, Anna; Fasth, Anders

    2017-01-01

    Autoinflammatory disease was introduced as a concept in 1999, demarcating an entirely new group of diseases in clinical, immunological, and conceptual terms. During recent years, the preconditions for the definition of autoinflammatory conditions have changed. This includes the recent discovery of a number of monogenic autoinflammatory conditions with complex phenotypes that combine autoinflammation with defects of the adaptive and/or innate immune system, resulting in the occurrence of infection, autoimmunity, and/or uncontrolled hyperinflammation in addition to autoinflammation. Further, there are strong indications that classical IL-1-driven autoinflammatory diseases are associated with activation of adaptive immunity. As suggested by this development, we are of the opinion that an all-encompassing definition of autoinflammatory diseases should regard autoinflammatory conditions and innate dysregulation as inseparable and integral parts of the immune system as a whole. Hence, in this article, we try to advance the conceptual understanding of autoinflammatory disease by, proposing a modification of the definition by Daniel Kastner et al., which allows for a congruent and precise description of conditions that expand the immunological spectrum of autoinflammatory disease.

  20. Mathematical Modeling of Electrical Conductivity of Dielectric with Dispersed Metallic Inclusions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. S. Zarubin

    2015-01-01

    elements consists of the dielectric material matrix.Quantitative analysis of two-sided estimates of possible values of the electrical conductivity of the composite, which are constructed by using dual variational electrokinetics problem statement for a heterogeneous solid body, showed that for real dielectric matrix material combinations and metallic inclusions in case when their electrical conductivity can differ by more than 10 orders of magnitude, these estimates can vary widely the specified characteristics of a composite. Therefore, to obtain the estimated effective dependence, a solution to the electrokinetics problem for representative element of the composite structure based on the assumption about ideal conductivity of metallic inclusions is found. It is shown that this dependence reflects properly the influence of the properties of the structural elements of a composite on its electrical conductivity.

  1. INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN ITALY

    OpenAIRE

    Voitkāne, Vita

    2017-01-01

    European member States implement Inclusive Education policies thus contributing to a sustainable, inclusive society, although each country is at a different stage in this process. Italy, one of the first countries to launch integrative learning, has set an example since the 1970s, although the quality of inclusive education is unpredictable due to many issues. Authors Cantoni and Panetta (2006) emphasize that, although the culture of integration in Italy exists, much needs to be done to impro...

  2. Lewy body dementia--clinical, pathological and neurochemical interconnections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, R; McKeith, I; Perry, E

    1997-01-01

    Senile dementia of Lewy body type or Lewy body dementia (SDLT or LBD) is defined as a Lewy body associated disease presenting in the elderly primarily with dementia with variable extrapyramidal disorder. Characteristic clinical symptoms include fluctuating cognitive impairment, psychotic features such as hallucinations and a particular sensitivity to neuroleptic medication. Although apolipoprotein e4 allele is increased 2-3 fold in SDLT (as in Alzheimer's disease) and beta-amyloidosis occurs in most cases, the most robust neurobiological correlate of the dementia so far identified appears to be extensive cholinergic deficits in the neocortex. This is consistent with previously reported correlations between cortical cholinergic activity and dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease. There is also a significant interaction between the density of limbic cortical Lewy bodies and dementia in both SDLT and PD, although the cortical neuronal population affected remains to be identified. Cortical Lewy body density is positively correlated with the age of disease onset in PD and SDLT. This may account for the increased incidence of psychiatric syndromes, as opposed to extrapyramidal disorder in Lewy body disease with advancing age as may age-related loss of cholinergic activity in cortical areas such as the hippocampus.

  3. Lending a Helping Hand at Work: A Multilevel Investigation of Prosocial Motivation, Inclusive Climate and Inclusive Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelissen, Philippe T J H; Hülsheger, Ute R; van Ruitenbeek, Gemma M C; Zijlstra, Fred R H

    2017-09-01

    Purpose People with disabilities often encounter difficulties at the workplace such as exclusion or unfair treatment. Researchers have therefore pointed to the need to focus on behavior that fosters inclusion as well as variables that are antecedents of such 'inclusive behavior'. Therefore the purpose of this study was to research the relationship between prosocial motivation, team inclusive climate and employee inclusive behavior. Method A survey was conducted among a sample of 282 paired employees and colleagues, which were nested in 84 teams. Employees self-rated prosocial motivation and team inclusive climate, their inclusive behavior was assessed by colleagues. Hypotheses were tested using multilevel random coefficient modeling. Results Employees who are prosocially motivated will display more inclusive behavior towards people with disabilities, and this relationship is moderated by team inclusive climate in such a way that the relationship is stronger when the inclusive climate is high. Conclusion This study shows that inclusive organizations, which value a diverse workforce, need to be aware of not only individual employee characteristics, but also team level climate to ensure the smooth integrations of people with disabilities into regular work teams.

  4. Inclusion control in high-performance steels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holappa, L.E.K.; Helle, A.S.

    1995-01-01

    Progress of clean steel production, fundamentals of oxide and sulphide inclusions as well as inclusion morphology in normal and calcium treated steels are described. Effects of cleanliness and inclusion control on steel properties are discussed. In many damaging constructional and engineering applications the nonmetallic inclusions have a quite decisive role in steel performance. An example of combination of good mechanical properties and superior machinability by applying inclusion control is presented. (author)

  5. Inclusion in a Polarised World

    OpenAIRE

    Freeman, Alan

    2005-01-01

    This paper on inclusion was presented to the at the 2005 summer school of DEEEP (Development Education Exchange in Europe Project), Härnösand - Sweden, 5 - 12 June 2005. It addresses the significance of the concept of world civilisation. It assesses how meaning may be attached to the concept of inclusion in an economically polarised world. It develops a critique of the conception of economic inclusion, by means of an exploration of linguistic inclusion and the notion of ‘disability’. ‘...

  6. Diverse Perspectives on Inclusive School Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsokova, Diana; Tarr, Jane

    2012-01-01

    What is an inclusive school community? How do stakeholders perceive their roles and responsibilities towards inclusive school communities? How can school communities become more inclusive through engagement with individual perspectives? "Diverse Perspectives on Inclusive School Communities" captures and presents the voices of a wide…

  7. Obesity and worsening of chronic venous disease and joint mobility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belczak, Cleusa Ema Quilici; de Godoy, José Maria Pereira; Belzack, Sergio Quilici; Ramos, Rubiana Neves; Caffaro, Roberto Augusto

    2014-09-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between obesity and decreased mobility of the talocrural joint and in turn chronic venous disease. One hundred obese patients recruited at Hospital Santa Casa de Maringa, Parana were enrolled by order of arrival at the hospital in a randomized quantitative cross-sectional study. Inclusion criteria were patients with a body mass index above 30 kg/m(2) and the exclusion criteria were infectious conditions that would interfere with the assessment. Patients were graded according to the clinical, etiological, anatomical and pathophysiological classification. Talocrural goniometry was performed to assess the degree of mobility of the legs. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Dunn's Multiple comparison test and analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis tests with an alpha error of 5% being considered acceptable. The increase in body mass index is correlated to the reduction in joint mobility (Kruskal-Wallis test: p-value Kruskal-Wallis test: p-value <0.0001). Obesity is associated with deterioration in joint mobility and worsening of chronic venous disease. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  8. The Origin and Evolution of Nucleosynthetic Sr Isotope Variability in Calcium and Aluminum-rich Refractory Inclusions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myojo, Kunihiro; Yokoyama, Tetsuya; Okabayashi, Satoki; Wakaki, Shigeyuki; Sugiura, Naoji; Iwamori, Hikaru

    2018-01-01

    Nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in meteorites are useful for investigating the origin of materials in the protoplanetary disk and dynamical processes of planetary formation. In particular, calcium and aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) found in chondrites are key minerals for decoding the initial conditions of the solar system before the accretion of small planetary bodies. In this study, we report isotopic analyses for three Allende CAIs, fluffy type A (FTA), type B, and fine-grained spinel rich (FS) inclusions, with a specific emphasis on the measurements of 84Sr/86Sr ratios. It was found that the average μ 84Sr values (106 relative deviations from a standard material) were 175, 129, and 56 ppm for the samples of FTA, type B, and FS inclusions, respectively. Additionally, the FTA samples exhibited heterogeneous μ 84Sr values, while those for the type B and FS inclusions were homogeneous within individual inclusions. The elevated μ 84Sr values were most likely explained by the relative enrichment of r-process nuclides in the CAI formation region. The variation of μ 84Sr values between the FTA and type B inclusions, as well as within the FTA inclusion, suggests the presence of multiple CAI source reservoirs with distinct isotopic compositions, which is either inherited from isotopic heterogeneity in the molecular cloud or caused by the selective destruction of r-process-enriched supernova grains via nebular thermal processing. On the other hand, the reaction between a refractory precursor of the FS inclusion and a gaseous reservoir enriched in Mg, Si, and 16O resulted in the lowest μ 84Sr values for the FS inclusion.

  9. Teachers becoming inclusive practitioners

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    , construct their identities in the light of inclusive education, and how they negotiate the tensions and contradictions emerging from the processof becoming inclusive practitioners. Central to this discussion is the understanding that teachers' ...

  10. A review of social inclusion measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coombs, Tim; Nicholas, Angela; Pirkis, Jane

    2013-10-01

    Social inclusion is crucial to mental health and well-being and is emphasised in Australia's Fourth National Mental Health Plan. There is a recognition that a measure of social inclusion would complement the suite of outcome measures that is currently used in public sector mental health services. This paper is an initial scope of candidate measures of social inclusion and considers their suitability for this purpose. We identified potential measures through searches of PsycINFO and Medline and a more general Internet search. We extracted descriptive and evaluative information on each measure identified and compared this information with a set of eight criteria. The criteria related to the measure's inclusion of four domains of social inclusion outlined in Australia's Fourth National Mental Health Plan, its usability within the public mental health sector and its psychometric properties. We identified 10 candidate measures of social inclusion: the Activity and Participation Questionnaire (APQ-6); the Australian Community Participation Questionnaire (ACPQ); the Composite Measure of Social Inclusion (CMSI); the EMILIA Project Questionnaire (EPQ); the Evaluating Social Inclusion Questionnaire (ESIQ); the Inclusion Web (IW); the Social and Community Opportunities Profile (SCOPE); the Social Inclusion Measure (SIM); the Social Inclusion Questionnaire (SIQ); and the Staff Survey of Social Inclusion (SSSI). After comparison with the eight review criteria, we determined that the APQ-6 and the SCOPE-short form show the most potential for further testing. Social inclusion is too important not to measure. This discussion of individual-level measures of social inclusion provides a springboard for selecting an appropriate measure for use in public sector mental health services. It suggests that there are two primary candidates, but neither of these is quite fit-for-purpose in their current form. Further exploration will reveal whether one of these is suitable, whether another

  11. Inclusão digital via acessibilidade web | Digital inclusion via web accessibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cesar Augusto Cusin

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Resumo A natureza atual da web, que destaca a participação colaborativa dos usuários em diversos ambientes informacionais digitais, conduz ao desenvolvimento de diretrizes que enfocam a arquitetura da informação digital inclusiva para diferentes públicos nas mais diversas ambiências informacionais. A pesquisa propõe e objetiva um ambiente informacional digital inclusivo, visando apontar os elementos de acessibilidade que permitam a promoção da inclusão informacional digital, de forma a destacar os referenciais da Arquitetura da Informação Digital, de recomendações internacionais, com o olhar da Ciência da Informação e das novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC. Palavras-chave inclusão digital; web; acessibilidade; ciência da informação; arquitetura da informação. Abstract The current nature of the web, which highlights the collaborative participation of users in various digital informational environments, leads to the development of guidelines that focus on the digital inclusive information architecture for different audiences in diverse informational environments. The study proposes an inclusive digital information environment, aiming to establish the elements of accessibility that  enable the promotion of digital inclusion information in order to highlight the references of digital information architecture, the international recommendations, with the perspective of Information Science and the new information and communication technologies (ICT. Keywords digital inclusion; web; accessibility; information science; information architecture.

  12. An Arendtian perspective on inclusive education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korsgaard, Morten Timmermann

    2016-01-01

    Inclusive education currently appears to be undergoing a crisis and re- examination. This paper presents a new approach to thinking about inclusiveness in the school context. Many positions within inclusive education seem to take political, social and ethical perspectives as a starting point, which...... has allowed inclusive movements and initiatives around the world to succumb to neo-liberal policy-making and has neglected the development of an educational vocabulary that is theoretically and conceptually appropriate for confronting teachers’ central concerns regarding inclusive practices....... The concepts of suspension, bearing with strangers and enlarged thought inspired by Hannah Arendt provide a basis for a re-imagining of inclusive education and for outlining a future school in which inclusiveness is embedded in the very way we think and position ourselves as teachers and pupils...

  13. Inclusive Education under Collectivistic Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Futaba, Yasuko

    2016-01-01

    This paper addresses how inclusive education under collective culture is possible. Inclusive education, which more-or-less involves changing the current schools, has been denied, doubted or distorted by both policy-makers and practitioners of general and special education in Japan. Main reason for the setback in inclusive education can be…

  14. Inclusive Education in South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yong-Wook

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine the current implementation of inclusive education in South Korea and discuss its challenges. The history of special education is first described followed by an introduction to policies relevant to special and inclusive education. Next, a critical discussion of the state of inclusive education follows built…

  15. Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation

    Data.gov (United States)

    Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / Western PA Regional Data Center — The Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation data set shares the status of action items under the Roadmap for Inclusive Innovation. Each action or project has been assigned...

  16. Serum leptin and adiponectin levels in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus - Relation to body fat mass and disease course.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majewska, Katarzyna Anna; Majewski, Dominik; Skowrońska, Bogda; Stankiewicz, Witold; Fichna, Piotr

    2016-03-01

    Leptin and adiponectin are adipokines presenting a wide range of impacts, including glycemic balance regulations. Insulin is one of the main regulators of adipose tissue function. In type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) endogenous insulin secretion is replaced by the exogenous supply, which is not regulated naturally. The aim of the study was to establish serum leptin and adiponectin levels, and their relations to body fat mass and disease course in children with T1DM. The study included 75 children with T1DM and the control group of 20 healthy coevals. All children had estimated serum leptin and adiponectin concentrations, lipid profile, and bioelectrical impedance analysis. Serum leptin concentrations in children with T1DM were not significantly different from the control group (p=0.067, mean values±SD: 3.11±2.98 vs. 5.29±5.06μg/l, respectively), and related positively to body fat mass in both groups. Adiponectin serum concentrations were significantly higher in children with T1DM than in the control group (pfat content in the study group. Both, leptin and adiponectin, showed no relation to any of the analyzed parameters of the disease course. Differences observed between children with T1DM and their healthy coevals, when similar in terms of age, body weight, and body fat mass, seem not to depend directly on the disease duration, its metabolic control or insulin supply. Copyright © 2015 Medical University of Bialystok. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

  17. Capacity, Debility and Differential Inclusion: The Politics of Microfinance in South India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vandana Chaudhry

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This article uses a critical disability lens to map how differential inclusion shatters the promise of democratizing capital in microfinance. Based on an ethnographic study of disability microfinance projects of the World Bank in India, it traces the dynamics of inclusion through the exclusion of debilitated bodies that cannot be capacitated within the neoliberal logic of entrepreneurship. A disability perspective brings into relief the pernicious ways that microfinance operates through webs of ableism, capitalism, and other axes of power and domination. It builds upon and contributes to the ongoing debates on microfinance as a form of neoliberal populism by showing what disability has to say about political futures amidst globalizing desires for inclusion, social mobility, and democratizing access to capital. Examining disability as a culturally-specific configuration of precarity and marginalization that is deepened by microfinance programs allows us to challenge the inclusionist claims of finance capital, and re-envision ethically and socially responsible frameworks. Generating culturally grounded knowledge on disability in the global south, this article also makes an important contribution to the field of disability studies, which scholars have argued remains implicated within the hegemony of 'scholarly colonialism' (Meekosha, 2011.

  18. Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, John; Siim, Birte

    2004-01-01

    identities. Politics of empowerment has to do with the agency and mobilisation dimension of social and political change. The title of the book "Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment" address the leitmotiv: namely to discuss plussumgame between politics of inclusion and politics of empowerment......The objective of the book is to analyse different politics of inclusion and empowerment and the different paradigms of inclusion/exclusion in order to underline the close link between politics of scoial equality and politics of recognition of ciultural difference. Politics of inclusion is thus...... theproductive/innovative linkage of politics of redistributuin and politics og resognition, whnich over a longer time span creates sustainable paths of democratic and social development, which increases the capacity to handle both conflicts about economic resources and life-chances and conflicts about...

  19. Inclusive differentiated instruction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jerković Ljiljana S.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Inclusive differentiated instruction is a new model of didactic instruction, theoretically described and established in this paper for the first time, after being experimentally verified through teaching of the mother tongue (instruction in reading and literature. Inclusive individually planned instruction is based on a phenomenological and constructivist didactic instructional paradigm. This type of teaching is essentially developmental and person-oriented. The key stages of inclusive differentiated instruction of literature are: 1 recognition of individual students' potential and educational needs regarding reading and work on literary texts; 2 planning and preparation of inclusive individually planned instruction in reading and literature; 3 actual class teaching of lessons thus prepared; and 4 evaluation of the student achievement following inclusive differentiated instruction in reading and literature. A highly important element of the planning and preparation of inclusive differentiated instruction is the creation of student profiles and inclusive individualized syllabi. Individualized syllabi specify the following: 1. a brief student profile; 2. the student position on the continuum of the learning outcomes of instruction in the Serbian language; 3. reverse-engineered macro-plan stages of instruction in the Serbian language (3.1. identifying expected outcomes and fundamental qualities of learners' work, 3.2. defining acceptable proofs of their realisation, 3.3. planning learning and teaching experiences, and 3.4. providing material and technical requisites for teaching; 4 the contents and procedure of individualized lessons targeting the student; 5 a plan of syllabus implementation monitoring and evaluation. The continuum of the learning outcomes of inclusive differentiated instruction in literature exists at three main levels, A, B and C. The three levels are: A reading techniques and learning about the main literary theory concepts; B

  20. Effect of rigid inclusions on sintering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rahaman, M.N.; De Jonghe, L.C.

    1988-01-01

    The predictions of recent theoretical studies on the effect of inert, rigid inclusions on the sintering of ceramic powder matrices are examined and compared with experimental data. The densification of glass matrix composites with inclusion volume fractions of ≤0.15 can be adequately explained by Scherer's theory for viscous sintering with rigid inclusions. Inclusions cause a vast reduction in the densification rates of polycrystalline matrix composites even at low inclusion volume fractions. Models put forward to explain the sintering of polycrystalline matrix composites are discussed

  1. Testing and Inclusive Schooling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morin, Anne; Hamre, Bjørn; Ydesen, Christian

    Testing and Inclusive Schooling provides a comparative on seemingly incompatible global agendas and efforts to include all children in the general school system, Thus reducing exclusion. With an examination of the international testing culture and the politics of inclusion currently permeating...

  2. Influence of apolipoprotein E genotype on senile dementia of the Alzheimer and Lewy body types. Significance for etiological theories of Alzheimer's disease.

    OpenAIRE

    Harrington, C. R.; Louwagie, J.; Rossau, R.; Vanmechelen, E.; Perry, R. H.; Perry, E. K.; Xuereb, J. H.; Roth, M.; Wischik, C. M.

    1994-01-01

    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with an increased frequency of the apolipoprotein E type epsilon 4 allele. To address both the disease and the allele specificity of this association, we have examined the apolipoprotein E allele distribution in 255 elderly persons including those with autopsy-confirmed AD, senile dementia of the Lewy body type (SDLT), vascular dementia, Parkinson's disease (PD) or Huntington's disease and in nondemented controls either with or without coronary complicat...

  3. The preliminary study of MR diffusion weighted imaging with background body signal suppression on pulmonary diseases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Huawei; Cheng Jiejun; Xu Jianrong; Lu Qing; Ge Xin; Li Lei

    2008-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate maximum intensity projection (MIP) images and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of MR diffusion weighted imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) on pulmonary diseases. Methods: Sixty-one patients with pulmonary diseases underwent DWlBS. The findings in three dimensional(3D) MIP image were observed and the ADC values of diseased region were measured. The diagnostic value of DWIBS on pulmonary diseases was evaluated. Results: Lung cancer and inflammatory disease were all demonstrated as dense intensity area on DWIBS. The mean ADC value of central lung cancer was (1.05±0.23) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s. The mean ADC value of peripheral lung cancer was (1.10 ± 0.17) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s. The mean ADC value of the inflammatory disease was (1.69 ± 0.29) x 10 -3 mm 2 /s. The mean ADC value had significant difference between peripheral lung cancer and the inflammatory disease (P<0.05). The MR sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in diagnosing the pulmonary diseases with DWIBS (86.84%, 82.60%, 85.24%, respectively) was higher than conventional MRI(78.94%, 78.26%, and 78.68%, respectively). Conclusion: DWIBS can demonstrate clearly the lesion's shape with 3D display. The quantitative measurement of ADC values is feasible. DWIBS may be a potential diagnostic method for differentiation on pulmonary diseases. (authors)

  4. Body Composition Analysis Allows the Prediction of Urinary Creatinine Excretion and of Renal Function in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donadio, Carlo

    2017-05-28

    The aim of this study was to predict urinary creatinine excretion (UCr), creatinine clearance (CCr) and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from body composition analysis. Body cell mass (BCM) is the compartment which contains muscle mass, which is where creatinine is generated. BCM was measured with body impedance analysis in 165 chronic kidney disease (CKD) adult patients (72 women) with serum creatinine (SCr) 0.6-14.4 mg/dL. The GFR was measured ( 99m Tc-DTPA) and was predicted using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula. The other examined parameters were SCr, 24-h UCr and measured 24-h CCr (mCCr). A strict linear correlation was found between 24-h UCr and BCM ( r = 0.772). Multiple linear regression (MR) indicated that UCr was positively correlated with BCM, body weight and male gender, and negatively correlated with age and SCr. UCr predicted using the MR equation (MR-UCr) was quite similar to 24-h UCr. CCr predicted from MR-UCr and SCr (MR-BCM-CCr) was very similar to mCCr with a high correlation ( r = 0.950), concordance and a low prediction error (8.9 mL/min/1.73 m²). From the relationship between the GFR and the BCM/SCr ratio, we predicted the GFR (BCM GFR). The BCM GFR was very similar to the GFR with a high correlation ( r = 0.906), concordance and a low prediction error (12.4 mL/min/1.73 m²). In CKD patients, UCr, CCr and the GFR can be predicted from body composition analysis.

  5. The Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, John; Siim, Birte

    The objective of the book is to analyse different politics of inclusion and empowerment and the different paradigms of inclusion/exclusion in order to underline the close link between politics of scoial equality and politics of recognition of ciultural difference. Politics of inclusion is thus...... identities. Politics of empowerment has to do with the agency and mobilisation dimension of social and political change. The title of the book "Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment" address the leitmotiv: namely to discuss plussumgame between politics of inclusion and politics of empowerment...

  6. Inclusion-initiated fracture model for ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sung, J.; Nicholson, P.S.

    1990-01-01

    The fracture of ceramics initiating from a typical inclusion is analyzed. The inclusion is considered to have a thermal expansion coefficient and fracture toughness lower than those of the matrix and a Young's modulus higher than that of the matrix. Inclusion-initiated fracture is modeled for a spherical inclusion using a weight function method to compute the residual stress intensity factor for a part-through elliptical crack. The results are applied to an α-Al 2 O 3 inclusion embedded in a tetragonal ZrO 2 ceramic. The strength predictions agree well with experimental data

  7. The impact of body weight management in chronic kidney disease patients with obesity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ya-Ling; Shu, Kuo-Hsiung; Yang, Mei-Fang; Yang, Wen-Ching; Wu, Ming-Ju; Lin, Tzu-Mei; Chen, Cheng-Hsu

    2013-09-01

    Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and obesity are important public health concerns. Because obesity may initiate and/or accelerate kidney damage, weight control may benefit CKD patients. We examined the influence of dietary management and physical exercise in 38 obese CKD patients with or without target reduction of body weight 3% or more from baseline. After a 2-month lifestyle intervention program, those with target body weight control had significant improvement of blood pressure control, as well as reduced lipid profiles, serum creatinine level (1.1 ± 0.3 vs. 0.8 ± 0.3; P management and exercise were associated with improvements in health-related physical fitness, cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure and lipid control), and renal profiles in obese CKD patients. Supportive individualized programs for lifestyle change could exert beneficial effects, but long-term research with a larger patient population is needed to elucidate the optimal effective combination of dietary management and exercise. Copyright © 2013 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Ca isotopes in refractory inclusions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niederer, F.R.; Papanastassiou, D.A.

    1984-01-01

    We report measurements of the absolute isotope abundance of Ca in Ca-Al-rich inclusions from the Allende and Leoville meteorites. Improved high precision measurements are reported also for 46 Ca. We find that nonlinear isotope effects in Ca are extremely rare in these inclusions. The absence of nonlinear effects in Ca, except for the effects in FUN inclusions, is in sharp contrast to the endemic effects in Ti. One fine-grained inclusion shows an excess of 46 Ca of (7 +- 1) per mille, which is consistent with addition of only 46 Ca or of an exotic (*) component with 46 Ca* approx. 48 Ca*. FUN inclusion EK-1-4-1 shows a small 46 Ca excess of (3.3 +- 1.0) per mille; this confirms that the exotic Ca components in EK-1-4-1 were even more deficient in 46 Ca relative to 48 Ca than is the case for normal Ca. The Ca in the Ca-Al-rich inclusions shows mass dependent isotope fractionation effects which have a range from -3.8 to +6.7 per mille per mass unit difference. This range is a factor of 20 wider than the range previously established for bulk meteorites and for terrestrial and lunar samples. Ca and Mg isotope fractionation effects in the Ca-Al-rich inclusions are common and attributed to kinetic isotope effects. (author)

  9. Inclusive education: Ideas vs reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovanović-Popadić Ana M.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses some of the key factors significant for the process of implementation of inclusive education in Serbia. After a brief review of the legal provisions regulating inclusive education in our country, the results of the research of attitudes towards inclusive education of teachers from six primary schools and one school for students with disabilities, as well as their experience, competencies, working conditions and opinions on consequences of inclusive education and education of children with developmental disabilities in specialized educational institutions are shown. Research was conducted in Krusevac, on a random sample of 60 teachers (51 teachers from primary schools and 9 special education teachers from schools for students with disabilities. We used two forms of questionnaires with twenty questions, and the results show predominantly negative attitudes towards inclusion in the majority of teachers in the sample. A significant percentage of respondents in both sub-samples considered that education of children with developmental disorders in specialized institutions (schools may give better results, primarily due to a lack of systematic support to teachers of primary schools in the process of implementing educational inclusion. The conclusion provides a critical overview of the current situation and presents the potential solutions to the problems that were identified during the research, and refer to the unsustainability of the current practice of inclusive education in Serbia.

  10. Kinetics of viral load and erythrocytic inclusion body formation in pacific herring artificially infected with erythrocytic necrosis virus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glenn, Jolene A.; Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Grady, Courtney A.; Roon, Sean R.; Gregg, Jacob L.; Conway, Carla M.; Winton, James R.; Hershberger, Paul K.

    2012-01-01

    Viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN) is a condition that affects marine and anadromous fish species, including herrings and salmonids, in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Infection is frequently associated with severe anemia and causes episodic mortality among wild and hatchery fish when accompanied by additional stressors; VEN can be presumptively diagnosed by (1) light microscopic identification of a single characteristic—a round, magenta-colored, 0.8-μm-diameter inclusion body (IB) within the cytoplasm of erythrocytes and their precursors on Giemsa-stained blood films; or (2) observation (via transmission electron microscopy [TEM]) of the causative iridovirus, erythrocytic necrosis virus (ENV), within erythrocytes or their precursors. To better understand the kinetics of VEN, specific-pathogen-free Pacific herring Clupea pallasii were infected with ENV by intraperitoneal injection. At 1, 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 d postexposure, samples of blood, spleen, and kidney were collected and assessed (1) via light microscopy for the number of intracytoplasmic IBs in blood smears and (2) via TEM for the number of virions within erythrocytes. The mean prevalence of intracytoplasmic IBs in the blood cells increased from 0% at 0–4 d postexposure to 94% at 28 d postexposure. Viral load within circulating red blood cells peaked at 7 d postexposure, fell slightly, and then reached a plateau. However, blood cells observed within the kidney and spleen tissues demonstrated high levels of ENV between 14 and 28 d postexposure. The results indicate that the viral load within erythrocytes does not correlate well with IB prevalence and that the virus can persist in infected fish for more than 28 d.

  11. Can we build inclusion?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkeby, Inge Mette; Grangaard, Sidse

    2016-01-01

    of some children with special needs. Hence the title – can we build inclusion? In the literature of Universal Design, accommodation and design features seldom reflect the less visible disabilities. The paper is based on a research project initiated to investigate how more or less space influences daily......Inclusion of children with special needs in kindergartens and preschools may be approached from different angles. This paper raises the question of whether the physical framework of kindergartens makes any difference for daily life at the kindergarten at all, and whether it can support inclusion...... on the answers in the interviews, we found support for answering the question in the title in the affirmative; we can build inclusion! This is because the teachers' experience indicated that, if there was sufficient space per child, there were fewer conflicts and the children managed to stay in the same activity...

  12. Melt inclusions: Chapter 6

    Science.gov (United States)

    ,; Lowenstern, J. B.

    2014-01-01

    Melt inclusions are small droplets of silicate melt that are trapped in minerals during their growth in a magma. Once formed, they commonly retain much of their initial composition (with some exceptions) unless they are re-opened at some later stage. Melt inclusions thus offer several key advantages over whole rock samples: (i) they record pristine concentrations of volatiles and metals that are usually lost during magma solidification and degassing, (ii) they are snapshots in time whereas whole rocks are the time-integrated end products, thus allowing a more detailed, time-resolved view into magmatic processes (iii) they are largely unaffected by subsolidus alteration. Due to these characteristics, melt inclusions are an ideal tool to study the evolution of mineralized magma systems. This chapter first discusses general aspects of melt inclusions formation and methods for their investigation, before reviewing studies performed on mineralized magma systems.

  13. Liver Diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Your liver is the largest organ inside your body. It helps your body digest food, store energy, and remove poisons. There are many kinds of liver diseases: Diseases caused by viruses, such as hepatitis ...

  14. Factors that contribute to the body image concern of female college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Wanderson Roberto; Dias, Juliana Chioda Ribeiro; Maroco, João; Campos, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini

    2015-01-01

    To estimate the contribution of sociodemographic and labor variables and body mass index to body image concern. In order to estimate body image concern, the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Weight Concerns Scale (WCS) were applied. A confirmatory factor analysis of scales was carried out. The reason χ2 by degree of freedom ratio (χ2/df ), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were used. Convergent validity was assessed through the average variance extracted and composed reliability and the internal consistency through standardized Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α). A structural model was developed, and the body image concern was the second-order main construct. The model appropriation was evaluated based on the goodness-of-fit indices. The z test was used to estimate the significance of trajectories (β) using a 5% significance level. Totally, 595 female college students participated in the study, with a mean age of 20.42 ± 2.44 years. The entire model, with the inclusion of all independent variables, showed unsatisfactory adjustment and was refined. The final model presented a satisfactory adjustment (χ2/df = 5.75; CFI = 0.87; NFI = 0.85; RMSEA = 0.09) with inclusion of medication use because of studies (β = 0.08; p = 0.04), academic performance (β = 0.09; p = 0.02), economic class (β = 0.08; p = 0.03), and body mass index (β = 0.44; p concern. Medication use due to studies, academic performance, economic class and body mass index significantly contribute to body image concern.

  15. Increased rates of body dissatisfaction, depressive symptoms, and suicide attempts in Jamaican teens with sickle cell disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhatt-Poulose, Komal; James, Kenneth; Reid, Marvin; Harrison, Abigail; Asnani, Monika

    2016-12-01

    This study aims to examine the association of body image and weight perceptions with risk of depression and suicidal attempts in Jamaican adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Adolescents with SCD and a national sample of Jamaican adolescents completed a questionnaire examining body image, weight perceptions, and risk for depression. Perceived and desired body images were similar for both groups. Adolescents with SCD had higher levels of "negative body satisfaction" (43.9% vs. 33.9%; P = 0.03), risk for depression (28.7% vs. 19.3%; P = 0.01), and attempted suicide (12.4% vs. 6.6%; P = 0.02) than national sample. Risk of depression was higher in those who perceived themselves to be over or underweight, and lower in those with more friends and attending school. Females and those with body image dissatisfaction were more likely to have attempted suicide. Within the SCD adolescents, girls were at greater odds of having mental health issues. Jamaican adolescents with SCD have significantly higher rates of negative body satisfaction and depressive symptoms, and nearly twice the rate of attempted suicide, compared with their healthy peers. This underscores the need for healthcare professionals to better explore and discuss healthy weight, body satisfaction, and coping with the demands and uncertainties of having a chronic illness with Jamaican adolescents with SCD, even while promoting body acceptance and good self-esteem. Screening for mood disorders is strongly recommended and gender-specific interventions should be developed. Healthcare professionals need to encourage positive social interactions that improve adolescents' mental health. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Whole-body magnetic resonance angiography at 3 tesla using a hybrid protocol in patients with peripheral arterial disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Yousef W; Eiberg, Jonas P; Logager, Vibeke B

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of 3T whole-body magnetic resonance angiography (WB-MRA) using a hybrid protocol in comparison with a standard protocol in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In 26 consecutive patients with PAD two different proto...

  17. Assessment of inclusive education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, Tanja

    2014-01-01

    The focus of this paper is on the way teachers, in teams can work with assessing the inclusive practice in their own classes. In 2012 a joint effort between CEPRA, teachers and school administrators from the municipality of Hjørring developed a dialog based model for continually assessing...... the quality of the learning environment in regard to inclusion – this model draws heavily on the logic and mindset of ECERS (Early child environment program). This article will relate the rationale of the assessment model called “Dialoger om Kvalitet” (dialogues on quality) to LSP’s definition of inclusion...

  18. Do weight management interventions delivered by online social networks effectively improve body weight, body composition, and chronic disease risk factors? A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Erik A; Szabo-Reed, Amanda N; Ptomey, Lauren T; Steger, Felicia L; Honas, Jeffery J; Washburn, Richard A; Donnelly, Joseph E

    2017-02-01

    Introduction Currently, no systematic review/meta-analysis has examined studies that used online social networks (OSN) as a primary intervention platform. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of weight management interventions delivered through OSN. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched (January 1990-November 2015) for studies with data on the effect of OSNs on weight loss. Only primary source articles that utilized OSN as the main platform for delivery of weight management/healthy lifestyle interventions, were published in English language peer-reviewed journals, and reported outcome data on weight were eligible for inclusion in this systematic review. Five articles were included in this review. Results One-hundred percent of the studies ( n = 5) reported a reduction in baseline weight. Three of the five studies (60%) reported significant decreases in body weight when OSN was paired with health educator support. Only one study reported a clinical significant weight loss of ≥5%. Conclusion Using OSN for weight management is in its early stages of development and, while these few studies show promise, more research is needed to acquire information about optimizing these interventions to increase their efficacy.

  19. Neuropathology and Neurochemistry of Nonmotor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

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    Isidro Ferrer

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Parkinson disease (PD is no longer considered a complex motor disorder characterized by Parkinsonism but rather a systemic disease with variegated non-motor deficits and neurological symptoms, including impaired olfaction, autonomic failure, cognitive impairment, and psychiatric symptoms. Many of these alterations appear before or in parallel with motor deficits and then worsen with disease progression. Although there is a close relation between motor symptoms and the presence of Lewy bodies (LBs and neurites filled with abnormal -synuclein, other neurological alterations are independent of the amount of -synuclein inclusions in neurons and neurites, thereby indicating that different mechanisms probably converge in the degenerative process. Involvement of the cerebral cortex that may lead to altered behaviour and cognition are related to several convergent factors such as (a abnormal -synuclein and other proteins at the synapses, rather than LBs and neurites, (b impaired dopaminergic, noradrenergic, cholinergic and serotoninergic cortical innervation, and (c altered neuronal function resulting from reduced energy production and increased energy demands. These alterations appear at early stages of the disease and may precede by years the appearance of cell loss and cortical atrophy.

  20. Role Of Banking-Sector To Inclusive Growth Through Inclusive Finance In Bangladesh

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    Sarker Sandip

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The study attempts to identify the relationship between the banking sector’s financing in agriculture and total agricultural output at national level. To assist the study, a simple linear regression model has been developed. The results suggest that there is a strong correlation between banking sectors’ financing in agriculture and agriculture output in Bangladesh. It is also evident that banking sector’s credits are significantly facilitating financial inclusion in Bangladesh. The model can be instrumental for developing countries that are seeking ways of inclusive growth. In addition; the study recommends some policy measures to overcome the challenges of financial inclusion with regards to the banking sector’s initiatives in financing agriculture in Bangladesh.

  1. Coronary microvascular function, insulin sensitivity and body composition in predicting exercise capacity in overweight patients with coronary artery disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jürs, Anders; Pedersen, Lene Rørholm; Olsen, Rasmus Huan

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) has a negative impact on exercise capacity. The aim of this study was to determine how coronary microvascular function, glucose metabolism and body composition contribute to exercise capacity in overweight patients with CAD and without diabetes. METHODS...... by a cardiopulmonary exercise test. Body composition was determined by whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan and magnetic resonance imaging. Coronary flow reserve (CFR) assessed by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography was used as a measure of microvascular function. RESULTS: Median BMI was 31.3 and 72...... metabolism and body composition. CFR, EDV and LVEF remained independent predictors of VO2peak in multivariable regression analysis. CONCLUSION: The study established CFR, EDV and LVEF as independent predictors of VO2peak in overweight CAD patients with no or only mild functional symptoms and a LVEF > 35...

  2. Inclusive Services Innovation Configuration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holdheide, Lynn R.; Reschly, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    Teacher preparation to deliver inclusive services to students with disabilities is increasingly important because of changes in law and policy emphasizing student access to, and achievement in, the general education curriculum. This innovation configuration identifies the components of inclusive services that should be incorporated in teacher…

  3. Sex work in Córdoba: Biopolitics, Sex and Bodies. Prophylaxis of Venereal Diseases Act: The Role of the Press and the State in the Construction of the Prostitutes’ Bodies in 1938

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucía María Busquier

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, I analyze the type of body built on the figure of prostitutes from the perspective of the role of the State and the discourse of the press, taking as a starting point the sanction of the National Act 12.331: Prophylaxis of venereal diseases in Cordoba in 1938. To do so, I study the regulations of that act, how the state control was applied to these bodies, what kind of institutions were created for that purpose, and what role the press played in complying with these regulations. As a methodological proposal, I implement a qualitative analysis of primary sources, centered on two newspapers: La Voz del Interior and Los Principios; and the National Act 12.331: Prophylaxis of venereal diseases. In a second instance, I expose the main points of debate on this activity today.

  4. When Inclusion Is Innovation: An Examination of Administrator Perspectives on Inclusion in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Bi Ying; Roberts, Sherron Killingsworth

    2011-01-01

    This article examines administrator perspectives of innovative services for the inclusion of young children with disabilities in regular preschool classrooms in China. Twelve directors from 12 pilot inclusion preschools in Beijing participated in this study. Qualitative interview results revealed the following subthemes: definition, advocacy,…

  5. A semiclassical distorted wave theory of inclusive nucleon inelastic scattering to continuum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawai, M.; Luo, Y.L.

    1989-01-01

    A semiclassical model is presented for the one step process of the inclusive nucleon inelastic scattering to the continuum. In the model, we use distorted waves for describing the motion of the incident and the exit nucleon, and the Thomas-Fermi model for the initial and the final states of the target nucleus. The averaged two-body cross section inside the nucleus is given by Kikuchi-Kawai expression. The model gives a closed form formula for the double differential cross section. No free parameter is included. We apply the model to the inclusive nucleon inelastic scattering from Al, Sn and Bi at 62 MeV, and Ni at 164 MeV. The angular distribution experimental data are reproduced very well except for small and large angle regions. The calculated energy spectra agree with the experimental data very well in the middle angle region and at high exit energies. (author)

  6. Fluid inclusion characteristics and geological significance of the Dajinshan W-Sn polymetallic deposit in Yunfu, Guangdong Province

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Zhangfa; Chen, Maohong; Zhao, Haijie

    2015-05-01

    The Dajinshan tungsten-tin polymetallic deposit is a quartz-vein-type ore deposit located in Western Guangdong Province. The ore bodies show a fairly simple shape and mainly occur as tungsten-tin polymetallic-bearing sulfide quartz veins, including quartz vein, quartz-greisens, and sulfide quartz veins, and their distribution is spatially related to Dajinshan granitoids. The formation of the deposit experienced three stages: a wolframite-molybdenite-quartz stage, a wolframite-cassiterite-sulfide-quartz stage, and a fluorite-calcite-carbonate stage. Based on detailed petrographic observations, we conducted microthermometric and Raman microspectroscopic studies of fluid inclusions formed at different ore-forming stages in the Dajinshan tungsten-tin polymetallic deposit, identifying four dominant types of fluid inclusions: aqueous two-phase inclusions, CO2-bearing inclusions, solid or daughter mineral-bearing inclusions, and gas-rich inclusions. The gas compositions of ore-forming fluids in the Dajinshan tungsten-tin polymetallic deposit are mostly CO2, CH4, and H2O. The hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur isotopic data imply that the ore-forming fluids in the Dajinshan tungsten-tin polymetallic deposit were mainly derived from magmatic fluids, mixed with meteoric water in the ore-formation process. These results indicate that the fluid mixing and boiling led to the decomposition of the metal complex in ore-forming fluids and ore deposition.

  7. On Lipschitzian quantum stochastic differential inclusions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ekhaguere, G.O.S.

    1990-12-01

    Quantum stochastic differential inclusions are introduced and studied within the framework of the Hudson-Parthasarathy formulation of quantum stochastic calculus. Results concerning the existence of solutions of a Lipschitzian quantum stochastic differential inclusion and the relationship between the solutions of such an inclusion and those of its convexification are presented. These generalize the Filippov existence theorem and the Filippov-Wazewski Relaxation Theorem for classical differential inclusions to the present noncommutative setting. (author). 9 refs

  8. Inclusion in Elementary Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan Allan Galis

    1995-10-01

    Full Text Available This study of reform policy focused on inclusive education in the 1990s in the state of Georgia, United States of America. Program modifications including, individualizing instructional methods, adapting the instructional environment, and lowering maximum class size emerged as significant issues. We found that policies related to these areas were compounded by the less experienced educators not readily accepting change strategies for serving students. Apparently younger educators are engrossed in surviving daily routine and have difficulty coping with the complex demands of change. Regular education teachers have difficulty with the idea of inclusion. Legal aspects dealing inclusion need clarification, especially for regular education teachers.

  9. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Berkeley Lab

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkeley Lab A-Z Index Directory Search Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Berkeley Lab Home Diversity & Inclusion Council Women Scientists & Engineers Council Employee Resource Groups -and culture of inclusion are key to attracting and engaging the brightest minds and furthering our

  10. Jet inclusive cross sections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Del Duca, V.

    1992-11-01

    Minijet production in jet inclusive cross sections at hadron colliders, with large rapidity intervals between the tagged jets, is evaluated by using the BFKL pomeron. We describe the jet inclusive cross section for an arbitrary number of tagged jets, and show that it behaves like a system of coupled pomerons

  11. Supporting Students with Severe Disabilities in Inclusive Schools: A Descriptive Account From Schools Implementing Inclusive Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurth, Jennifer A.; Lyon, Kristin J.; Shogren, Karrie A.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate practices that support the inclusion of students with severe disabilities in the learning and social activities of inclusive K-8 schools to inform inclusive school reform research and practice. Eighteen K-8 students with severe disabilities in six schools recognized for their implementation of…

  12. Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... the fight against LBD! Donate Symptoms Lewy body dementia (LBD) has variable presentations that include cognitive difficulties ... wake cycle alterations. Cognitive impairment in Lewy body dementia (LBD) is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). ...

  13. Gender differences in body composition, physical activity, eating behavior and body image among normal weight adolescents--an evolutionary approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirchengast, Sylvia; Marosi, Andrea

    2008-12-01

    Body composition but also physical activity patterns underlie gender typical differences throughout human life. In the present study the body composition of 354 girls and 280 boys ageing between 11 and 18 years originating from Eastern Austria were analyzed using bioelectrical impedance method. Normal weight according to body mass index categories was a strict inclusion criterion. Information regarding physical activity during school and leisure time, daily nutritional habits, subjective body satisfaction and weight control practices were collected by means of a structured and standardized questionnaire. Results of the analyses reveal that--as to be expected--adolescent boys and girls differed significantly in body composition, but also in physical activity patterns. Even normal weight girls exhibited a significantly higher amount of absolute and relative fat mass, whereas normal weight boys showed a significantly higher amount of fat free body mass. Furthermore male adolescents were significantly more physically active than their female counterparts. According to the results of multiple regression analyses physical activity patterns had beside sex an independent influence on body composition parameters during adolescence. In contrast, girls and boys showed only minor differences in nutritional habits and weight control practices. Nutritional habits, body satisfaction and weight control practices were not significantly related to body composition parameters. The observed gender differences in body composition as well as in physical activity patterns are interpreted in an evolutionary sense.

  14. Determination of neutral current couplings from neutrino-induced semi-inclusive pion and inclusive reactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hung, P.Q.

    1977-01-01

    It is shown that by looking at data from neutrino-induced semi-inclusive pion and inclusive reactions on isoscalar targets along, one can determine completely the neutral current couplings. Predictions for various models are also presented. (Auth.)

  15. Inclusive weak decays of charmed mesons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, C.G.

    1993-01-01

    Inclusive analysis provide a different insight into the understanding of weak decay physics. This thesis experimentally determines inclusive decay predictions of charmed D mesons. Exclusive decay predictions are also used from a variety of theoretical models to make predictions about inclusive properties. Both experimental and theoretical realms benefit from the new techniques presented in this thesis. Inclusive properties derived are the multiplicity distributions, average multiplicities and inclusive branching ratios of charged particles, charged and neutral kaons, and charged pions. The center-of-mass momentum spectra of charged and neutral kaons are also obtained. Additionally, in the theoretical realm only, the inclusive properties of neutral pions, and the center-of-mass momentum spectra of charged and neutral pions are determined. The experimental analysis, which uses data from the mark II experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, employs an unfold technique utilizing fold matrices to obtain the charged particle and kaon properties. A new enhanced unfold technique involving fold tensors obtains the first-ever results for the inclusive charged pion properties. The average strange quark contents and the average charged lepton multiplicities of the D + , D 0 and D + 8 are also presented. In the theoretical analysis, the exclusive decay mode predictions from the factorization model for Bauer, Stech and Wirbel; the quark diagram scheme of Chau and Cheng; and the QCD sum rules model of Block and Shifman are processed to determine inclusive predictions will lead to a better understanding of the model. The thesis also derives inclusive predictions from the D meson exclusive branching ratios compiled by the Particle Data Group

  16. From exclusion to self-inclusion of women in ICT. Motivations, enablers and mechanisms of self-inclusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Núria Verges Bosch

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Research on the participation of women in ICT shows that the gender digital divide persists. Given that, most studies continue to focus on explaining the mechanisms of exclusion of women from ICT. In this article I propose a paradigm shift from exclusion to inclusion. I go beyond inclusion by conceptualizing and analysing the process of self-inclusion of women in ICT from a purposive sample of women artistic and computer technologists. The results are based on the qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups, in which I aim to answer three main questions: What motivated their self-inclusion? What enablers did they encounter? What mechanisms did they follow and activate to self-include in ICT? The main results show, first, that the motivations for pleasure are predominant, but often complemented by other utilitarian motivations. Second, a set of enablers facilitate women’s self-inclusion in ICT, including gender policies. Finally, I discuss a number of mechanisms of self-inclusion that go beyond learning that include doing and undoing gender.

  17. Inclusion of Gaming Disorder in ICD has more advantages than disadvantages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Király, Orsolya; Demetrovics, Zsolt

    2017-09-01

    This paper is a response to a recent debate paper in which Aarseth et al. argue that the inclusion of a formal diagnosis and categories for problematic video gaming or Gaming Disorder (GD) in the World Health Organization's 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is premature and therefore the proposal should be removed. The present authors systematically address all the six main arguments presented by Aarseth et al. and argue that, even though some of the concerns presented in the debate paper are legitimate, the inclusion of GD in ICD-11 has more advantages than disadvantages. Furthermore, the present authors also argue that the two GD subtypes ("GD, predominantly online" and "GD, predominantly offline") are unnecessary and rather problematic; the main category for GD would be perfectly sufficient.

  18. Inclusive outreach practices in Palaeontology: Inclusive-Coworking

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Frank, Alejandra; Gomez-Heras, Miguel; Fesharaki, Omid

    2017-04-01

    Previous experiences with people with both physical and intellectual functional diversity around palaeontological issues have demonstrated the important value of science outreach directed to people with disabilities. The aforementioned practices act twofold: as a learning tool and also improving the quality of life of the participants and thus, their self-image. All these pioneer experiences were the first step in a process of developing new attitudes contributing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of United Nations, where among the 17 goals proposed an effective social inclusion of people with disabilities is required. For this, real inclusive practices in geological outreach are imperious. A close cooperation with all the parts (researchers and participants), in a kind of coworking attitude is needed. This Inclusive-Coworking is considered in the sense of social gathering in order to share equal values and look for the synergy that this different outlook implies. And what is more important: the change of role of the previously learners into an active part of the scientific outreach, providing the adequate methodology for that. The offer of non-formal learning activities normally includes the participation of university professors and researchers in Science Week editions. During the 2016 session in Madrid, four adults with intellectual disability who were participants in the previous edition, contributed in the palaeontological workshop. They were in charge of four of the eight modules explaining the origin of fossils and how to collect them, the evolution of equids' limbs, and the main dentition types in vertebrates to the twenty 16 year old secondary students who attended the workshop. During the development of the experience all the students were pleased with the inclusive approach, and the interaction of all participants was fruitful. Although the explanations took a bit more time when made by our functional diverse fellows, all the abstracts concepts

  19. Characterization of hypothetical proteins Cpn0146, 0147, 0284 & 0285 that are predicted to be in the Chlamydia pneumoniae inclusion membrane

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Kaiyang

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Although more than 100 Chlamydia pneumoniae hypothetical proteins have been predicted to be inclusion membrane proteins, only a few have been experimentally demonstrated to be in the inclusion membrane. Using antibodies raised with fusion proteins, we characterized four such hypothetical proteins encoded by two gene clusters (Cpn0146-147 and Cpn0284-285 in the C. pneumoniae genome. Results Cpn0146 and 0147 were detected in the inclusion membrane while Cpn0284 and 0285 inside inclusion and mainly associated with reticulate bodies although all four proteins contain an N-terminal bi-lobed hydrophobic region, a signature motif assigned to inclusion membrane proteins. These four hypothetical proteins were only detected in cells infected with C. pneumoniae but not other chlamydial species, with Cpn0147 at 6 hours and Cpn0146, 0284 & 0285 at 24 hours after infection. Cpn0146 & 147 but not Cpn0284 and 285 co-localized with a host cell endoplasmic reticulum marker, a property known to be possessed by some chlamydial inclusion membrane proteins, when expressed in the host cell cytosol via transgenes. However, the endoplasmic reticulum localization of the C. pneumoniae inclusion membrane proteins did not result in inhibition of the subsequent C. pneumoniae infection. Conclusion The hypothetical proteins Cpn0146 & 0147 were localized in the C. pneumoniae inclusion membrane while Cpn0284 & 0285 within the inclusion although all four were predicted to be Inc proteins, suggesting the need to experimentally characterize the predicted Inc proteins.

  20. A Variational Approach to the Estimate of the Permittivity of a Composite with Dispersed Inclusions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. S. Zarubin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Composites are inhomogeneous materials (heterogeneous solid body, which fall into the matrix and inclusions. The matrix in a composite is a binder between the inclusions. The properties of the inclusions mainly determine the application of composites. Selection of the characteristics of the matrix and inclusions enables us to meet the requirements for materials to be used in various fields of technology. Composites are widely used as structural or thermal protection material and as functional materials in various electrical devices, including dielectrics. One of the most important characteristics of the composite dielectric is the relative permittivity. The latter is primarily determined by the dielectric properties of the matrix and inclusions, as well as the shape and volume concentration of inclusions.For a composite with dispersed inclusions we are able to construct adequate mathematical models which enable us to predict sufficiently reliably the dependence of its dielectric constant on these defining parameters. In this paper, among the various approaches to the construction of such models we emphasize a variational approach which allows us not only to determine this dependence, but also obtain guaranteed bilateral boundaries of the area of possible values of the dielectric constant of the composite used to estimate the highest accuracy of calculated values.The representative element of the composite structure with inclusions of spherical shape modeling the form of dispersed inclusions with dimensions close to all directions is considered. For the representative element we obtained the electrostatic potential distribution that is permissible for the minimized functional. The latter is the part of the variational form of a mathematical model which describes the dielectric properties of the considered composite. From the equality of the values of this functional on the received permissible distribution in a representative element of the