Autologous peripheral blood stem and progenitor (CD34+) cell transplantation for systemic lupus erythematosus complicated by Evans syndrome

Immunoablation followed by allogeneic stem cell (SC) transplantation has been shown to be capable of curing a large spectrum of experimental autoimmune disorders, hereditary and/or induced. Superimposable results, albeit with some exceptions, have been obtained in human patients affected by coincidental autoimmune and blood diseases. However, both because of encouragine experimental results and of the procedure's greater safety, autologous SC are being increasingly utilized worldwide. Case reports are being collected in the registry of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)/European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) Autoimmune Disease Stem Cell Project. Among the severe autoimmune diseases (SADs), which are the target of autologous transplantation, severe refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a condition which may benefit from this procedure. We report here the case of a 19 year old female patient with a six year history of SLE with secondary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), who later developed refractory Evans syndrome. She was transplanted with autologous mobilized CD34+ SC and progenitor cells after conditioning with cyclosphosphamide, anti-T lymphocyte globulin and prednisone. Eight months after transplant, the patient is alive and well, with normal blood counts and persistent low-titre direct antiglobulin (DAT, Coombs) and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) tests. Anti-double stranded DNA antibody (Anti-dsDNA), lupus anticoagulant tests and anti-cardiolipin antibody (ACA) test are negative.     

Tagging and the Case of Pronouns

Using a corpus to investigate empirically grammatical phenomena prior to writing grammatical rules or constraints for a disambiguating tagger is important. The paper shows how even case distinctions on pronouns are used more diversely than is usually assumed. Both in English and Norwegian nominative pronouns are used in more positions than the expected Subject one. Although the other uses are statistically less frequent, they may be important to the users of the resulting tagged corpus – who are often theoretical linguists. A tagger should therefore tag correctly also the more infrequent constructions. The paper shows how this can be done in a Constraint Grammar type tagger.     

Thermal and chemical analysis of massive use of hot briquetted iron inside basic oxygen furnace

The integrated steelmaking cycle based on the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route plays an important role in the production of plain and ultra-low carbon steel, especially for deep drawing operations.BOF steelmaking is based on the conversion of cast iron in steel by impinging oxygen on the metal bath at supersonic speed.In order to avoid the addition of detrimental chemical elements owing to the introduction of uncontrolled scrap and in order to decrease environmental impact caused by the intensive use of coke for the production of cast iron, HBI (hot briquetted iron) can be used as a source of metal and a fraction of cast iron.Forty industrial experim ental tests were perform ed to evaluate the viability of the use of HBI in BOF.The experimental campaign was supported by a ther-mal prediction model and realized through the estimation of the oxidation enthalpy.Furthermore, the process was thermodynamically analyzed based on oxygen potentials using the off-gas composition and the bath temperature evolution during the conversion as reference data.     

Neuropsychological function and apolipoprotein E genotype in the preclinical detection of Alzheimer's disease.

Nondemented older adults genotyped for the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 allele (n?=?43) were neuropsychologically compared to participants without a copy of the ε4 allele (n?=?90). At baseline, the groups did not differ on age, education, gender, or global cognitive status. ApoE-ε4 participants demonstrated significantly poorer mean performances on delayed recall, but no significant group differences emerged on attention, language, constructional skills, psychomotor speed, or executive function. Significantly more ApoE-ε4 participants developed probable or questionable Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared with non-ε4 participants, suggesting that the group differences resulted from a preponderance of preclinical AD cases within the ε4 group and not from a direct influence of ApoE genotype on cognition. Cox proportional hazards analysis, adjusting for age, years of education, and global cognitive status, revealed that ApoE-ε4 allele status and measures of recall performance were significant and independent predictors of conversion to AD. Results support the importance of specific episodic memory changes and possession of the ApoE-ε4 allele in the preclinical detection of AD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection and preliminary characterization of a bacteriocin (plantaricin 35d) produced by a Lactobacillus plantarum strain

Lactic acid bacteria (134) from Italian sausages were tested for the production of antimicrobial substances (bacteriocins). Six percent of these showed antibacterial activity against one or several closely related microorganisms used as indicators. Lactobacillus plantarum 35d in particular produced a bacteriocin of high activity (320 AU ml(-1)) and a wide range of antimicrobial activity including S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, and A. hydrophila. The bacteriocin withstood heating at 80 degrees C for 120 min and storage at 4 degrees C for 6 months. The mode of action was identified as bactericidal. The apparent molecular weight of the bacteriocin extracted with n-butanol was estimated to be 4.5 kDa.     

Lucerne saponins. 3. Effect of lucerne saponins on larval growth and their detoxification by various sterols

The role of sapogenins in the antibiological effects exerted by lucerne saponins has been studied. Data are presented, showing that lucerne sapogenins are more toxic towards Tribolium castaneum larvae than their respective saponins, from which they are isolated. Medicagenic acid and to a lesser extent a new, hitherto unidentified sapogenin are the main growth-depressing factors, the soyasapogenols being almost harmless in this respect. When cholesterol is also included in the diet, the negative influence of the sapogenins is completely abolished. The counteraction found with cholesterol, as well as with various plant sterols, of the growth inhibition of the larvae caused by dietary saponin extracts (SE) was studied quantitatively with different SE: sterol ratios. It is shown that the amount of cholesterol needed to counteract fully the growth impairment depends on the toxicity of the SE preparation and its concentration in the diet. The counteracting property of plant sterols on larval growth depression leads to the conclusion that a built-in defence mechanism exists in lucerne against the antibiological effects of saponins.     

On the Synthesis of Glutathione in Human Blood Cells In Vitro

Mature human blood cells depleted of ATP in vitro by preincubation with fluoride, maintain the ability to incorporate glycine into their GSH, presumably by exchange. The incorporation of labelled glycine into GSH, of ATP depleted blood cells, in the presence of added phosphate, is higher than in the nonpoisoned cells. Arsenate accelerates the incorporation of labelled glycine into GSH of ATP depleted blood cells. The inhibitory effect of glucose on the incorporation of labelled glycine into blood cell GSH is thought to be related to the binding of inorganic phosphate. Synthesis of GSH in mature blood cells in vitro was established with labelled cystein and cystine.     

Lucerne saponins: IV.—Relationship between their chemical constitution,and haemolytic and antifungal activities

By precipitation with animal or plant sterols (cholesterol or β-sitosterol), saponins extracts from lucerne tops (SEt) or roots (SEr) were separated into two main groups of saponins. The aglycone moiety of the group precipitated by sterol is composed of medicagenic acid and an unidentified lucerne sapogenin, whereas the non-precipitable saponins contain a variety of soyasapogenols as their aglycones. No qualitative difference could be observed in the composition of the sugar moiety of the two groups of saponins. It was found that only the sterol-precipitable saponins are able to lyse red blood cells and arrest the growth of the fungus Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. Though the origin of the sterol has no influence on the composition and biological properties of the saponins precipitated by them, the antifungal activity of lucerne saponins could be counteracted only by the addition of cholesterol, but not of β-sitosterol to the culture medium. Lucerne saponins precipitated by sterol were separated by thin-layer chromatography into three fractions. Antifungal and haemolytic activities are concentrated mainly in the fractions having high Rf values. The absence of these fractions from SEt accounts for the lower degree of biological activity exhibited by SEt as compared with that of SEr. The antifungal activity of the various sapogenins is found to be concentrated mainly in medicagenic acid and to a lesser extent in the unidentified sapogenin. Blocking the functional groups of medicagenic acid greatly diminished its antifungal activity.