Search results for "connective tissue"
showing 10 items of 1112 documents
Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Markers in Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases in Italy
2020
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may be reactivated by immunosuppressive drugs in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. This study evaluates HBV serum markers&rsquo
Early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection cases or outbreaks at nursing homes by targeted wastewater tracking
2021
Objectives Near-source tracking of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the sewage drains serving particular buildings may allow rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection cases or local outbreaks. In this pilot study, we investigated whether this was the case for nursing homes (NH). Methods The study involved five NH (from A to E) affiliated to the Clínico-Malvarrosa Health Department, Valencia (Spain). These were nursing or mixed nursing/care homes of different sizes, altogether providing care for 472 residents attended by a staff of 309. Near-source sewage samples were screened for presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by RT-qPCR at least 5 days per week during the study period. SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing in nasopharyn…
In silico discovery of substituted pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines and pentamidine-like compounds with biological activity in myotonic dystrophy models
2016
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a rare multisystemic disorder associated with an expansion of CUG repeats in mutant DMPK (dystrophia myotonica protein kinase) transcripts; the main effect of these expansions is the induction of pre-mRNA splicing defects by sequestering muscleblind-like family proteins (e.g. MBNL1). Disruption of the CUG repeats and the MBNL1 protein complex has been established as the best therapeutic approach for DM1, hence two main strategies have been proposed: targeted degradation of mutant DMPK transcripts and the development of CUG-binding molecules that prevent MBNL1 sequestration. Herein, suitable CUG-binding small molecules were selected using in silico approach…
The murine cytomegalovirus M35 protein antagonizes type I IFN induction downstream of pattern recognition receptors by targeting NF-κB mediated trans…
2017
The type I interferon (IFN) response is imperative for the establishment of the early antiviral immune response. Here we report the identification of the first type I IFN antagonist encoded by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) that shuts down signaling following pattern recognition receptor (PRR) sensing. Screening of an MCMV open reading frame (ORF) library identified M35 as a novel and strong negative modulator of IFNβ promoter induction following activation of both RNA and DNA cytoplasmic PRR. Additionally, M35 inhibits the proinflammatory cytokine response downstream of Toll-like receptors (TLR). Using a series of luciferase-based reporters with specific transcription factor binding sites, …
Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA): An ImageJ macro tool to automate measurements in B-mode ultrasound scans
2020
In vivo measurements of muscle architecture (i.e. the spatial arrangement of muscle fascicles) are routinely included in research and clinical settings to monitor muscle structure, function and plasticity. However, in most cases such measurements are performed manually, and more reliable and time-efficient automated methods are either lacking completely, or are inaccessible to those without expertise in image analysis. In this work, we propose an ImageJ script to automate the entire analysis process of muscle architecture in ultrasound images: Simple Muscle Architecture Analysis (SMA). Images are filtered in the spatial and frequency domains with built-in commands and external plugins to hi…
Neutrophil extracellular traps impair fungal clearance in a mouse model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis
2019
Abstract Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are formed by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and contribute to the innate host defense by binding and killing bacterial and fungal pathogens. Because NET formation depends on histone hypercitrullination by peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4), we used PAD4 gene deficient (Pad4-/-) mice in a mouse model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) to address the contribution of NETs to the innate host defense in vivo. After the induction (24 h) of IPA by i.t. infection with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia, Pad4-/- mice revealed lower fungal burden in the lungs, accompanied by less acute lung injury, TNFα and citH3 compared to wildtype controls. T…
Inherited variants in XRCC2 and the risk of breast cancer
2019
Background XRCC2 participates in homologous recombination and in DNA repair. XRCC2 has been reported to be a breast cancer susceptibility gene and is now included in several breast cancer susceptibility gene panels. Methods We sequenced XRCC2 in 617 Polish women with familial breast cancer and found a founder mutation. We then genotyped 12,617 women with breast cancer and 4599 controls for the XRCC2 founder mutation. Results We identified a recurrent truncating mutation of XRCC2 (c.96delT, p.Phe32fs) in 3 of 617 patients with familial breast cancer who were sequenced. The c.96delT mutation was then detected in 29 of 12,617 unselected breast cancer cases (0.23%) compared to 11 of 4599 cancer…
Triple-negative breast lobular carcinoma: a luminal androgen receptor carcinoma with specific ESRRA mutations.
2021
Primary triple-negative invasive lobular breast carcinomas (TN-ILCs), which do not express hormone receptors and HER2 at diagnosis, are rare and poorly known. In this study, we analyzed the largest TN-ILC series ever reported in the literature, in comparison to phenotypically similar breast tumor subtypes: triple-negative invasive ductal carcinoma (TN-IDC) and hormone receptor-positive invasive lobular carcinoma (HR + ILC). All primary TN-ILCs registered in our database between 2000 and 2018 (n = 38) were compared to tumors from control groups, matched by stage and Elston/Ellis grade, with regard to clinical, pathologic, and immunohistochemical characteristics. A comparative molecular analy…
Prognostic Factors of Survival among Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer and Impact of Primary or Secondary Nature of Disease on Survival: A French P…
2016
We aim to determine whether differences in survival exist between two populations of women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and to identify prognostic factors of survival after metastasis diagnosis. Data on women with MBC diagnosed between 2000 and 2011 were provided by the Cote d'Or Breast cancer registry. Survival rates and median overall survival (OS) after metastasis diagnosis were determined using the Kaplan–Meier method and prognostic factors were determined in a Cox proportional hazard model. Overall, 282 women with primary MBC and 340 with secondary MBC were included. A 2-year survival rate was significantly better in women with primary MBC (50.8% [95% CI: 47.8–53.8%] versus 44.5…
Loss of HER2 and decreased T-DM1 efficacy in HER2 positive advanced breast cancer treated with dual HER2 blockade: the SePHER Study
2020
AbstractBackgroundHER2-targeting agents have dramatically changed the therapeutic landscape of HER2+ advanced breast cancer (ABC). Within a short time frame, the rapid introduction of new therapeutics has led to the approval of pertuzumab combined with trastuzumab and a taxane in first-line, and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in second-line. Thereby, evidence of T-DM1 efficacy following trastuzumab/pertuzumab combination is limited, with data from some retrospective reports suggesting lower activity. The purpose of the present study is to investigate T-DM1 efficacy in pertuzumab-pretreated and pertuzumab naïve HER2 positive ABC patients. We also aimed to provide evidence on the exposure to d…