Anti-inflammatory effect of rosiglitazone is not reflected in expression of NFκB-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background

The aim of this study is to perform a cost-effectiveness comparison between palpation-guided thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsies (P-FNA) and ultrasound-guided thyroid FNA biopsies (USG-FNA).

Methods

Each nodule was considered as a case. Diagnostic steps were history and physical examination, TSH measurement, Tc^99m thyroid scintigraphy for nodules with a low TSH level, initial P-FNA versus initial USG-FNA, repeat USG-FNA for nodules with initial inadequate P-FNA or USG-FNA, hemithyroidectomy for inadequate repeat USG-FNA. American Thyroid Association thyroid nodule management guidelines were simulated in estimating the cost of P-FNA strategy. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists guidelines were simulated for USG-FNA strategy. Total costs were estimated by adding the cost of each diagnostic step to reach a diagnosis for 100 nodules. Strategy cost was found by dividing the total cost to 100. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated by dividing the difference between strategy cost of USG-FNA and P-FNA to the difference between accuracy of USG-FNA and P-FNA. A positive ICER indicates more and a negative ICER indicates less expense to achieve one more additional accurate diagnosis of thyroid cancer for USG-FNA.

Results

Seventy-eight P-FNAs and 190 USG-FNAs were performed between April 2003 and May 2008. There were no differences in age, gender, thyroid function, frequency of multinodular goiter, nodule location and diameter (median nodule diameter: 18.4 mm in P-FNA and 17.0 mm in USG-FNA) between groups. Cytology results in P-FNA versus USG-FNA groups were as follows: benign 49% versus 62% (p = 0.04), inadequate 42% versus 29% (p = 0.03), malignant 3% (p = 1.00) and indeterminate 6% (p = 0.78) for both. Eleven nodules from P-FNA and 18 from USG-FNA group underwent surgery. The accuracy of P-FNA was 0.64 and USG-FNA 0.72. Unit cost of P-FNA was 148 Euros and USG-FNA 226 Euros. The cost of P-FNA strategy was 534 Euros and USG-FNA strategy 523 Euros. Strategy cost includes the expense of repeat USG-FNA for initial inadequate FNAs and surgery for repeat inadequate USG-FNAs. ICER was -138 Euros.

Conclusion

Universal application of USG-FNA for all thyroid nodules is cost-effective and saves 138 Euros per additional accurate diagnosis of benign versus malignant thyroid nodular disease.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00571090     

Primary culture of antvenom gland cells

Summary Venom from the antPseudomyrmex triplarinus reduces the symptoms and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis. The cells that produce the venom were dissected from larval and pupal ants and culture conditions studied. Cell dissociation, with minimal amount of damage, was done with 0.25% trypsin at 4°C with subsequent use of soybean trypsin inhibitor. A new medium was formulated and epidermal growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, insulin, cAMP, cGMP, and isoproterenol were beneficial. The optimum osmotic pressure was a relatively high 500 mOsm. Conditioning the medium with an established insect cell line was essential for long-term cell survival. Under these culture conditions the structural and metabolic integrity of the cells were maintained for up 12 mo.     

l-Malate as an Essential Component of the Xylem Fluid of Corn Seedling Roots

Corn seedling xylem exudate has a pH of 5.30 +/- 0.05 due to the presence of 10 millimolar malate which has a pK(a) of 5.13. This concentration of malate tends to buffer the xylem fluid at this pH. Exogenous treatment of corn seedling roots with CaCl(2) caused a concentration-dependent decrease in the pH of the xylem fluid as well as a decrease in the volume of fluid secreted into the xylem. Exogenous 50 millimolar CaCl(2) decreased exudate volume to 8% of control within 0.5 hour. Nitrate and malate deposition into the xylem was prevented by pretreatment in 5 millimolar CaCl(2); nitrate deposition was resumed shortly after resumption of malate deposition. Fifty millimolar l-tartrate, an inhibitor of the Cl(-), malate-activated ATPase (in vitro) of the tonoplast, also decreased exudate volume as well as slightly lowering exudate pH. The osmolality of the exudate was found to be constant at 70 +/- 11 milliosmomoles per kilogram in all treatments. Dixon plots (log of exudation rate versus pH of exudate) indicated a pK(a) of 5.11 for the exudation process which is very close to the pK(a) of l-malate (5.13). In addition, a Dixon plot of the l-glutamine deposition (l-glutamine being the major form of reduced nitrogen in the exudate) versus pH also indicated a pK(a) near 5.15.The pH optimum for glutamine transport into the xylem was 5.5. Deposition of glutamine into the xylem may be regulated by the xylem pH (5.30 +/- 0.05) which in turn may be regulated by the presence of 10 millimolar malate. It is proposed that the transport of glutamine into the xylem may provide the driving force for the exudation process.     

A codeine radioimmunoassay exhibiting insignificant cross-reactivity with morphine: (Preliminary communication)

Antisera to codeine have been raised to an $\text{N}$-butyroylnorcodeine-bovine serum albumin conjugate. These antisera were used, at a final dilution of 1:10, 000 in a radioimmunoassay procedure for codeine utilizing tritiated codeine as label. No cross-reactivity was observed with heroin, 6-monoacetyl-morphine, morphine or codeine-6-glucuronide, but, as might be expected, norcodeine cross-reacts to an appreciable extent with this antiserum. This immunoassay system should be of value in quantitating codeine in biological fluids, and in distinguishing codeine from morphine or its major metabolites.     

半夏蛋白在小鼠早期妊娠子宫结合部位的检测

利用辣根过氧化物酶标记定位技术对半夏蛋白抗小鼠早期妊娠的作用原理进行了探讨。结果显示小鼠子宫内膜和腺管上皮以及胚胎外胚盘锥体部分呈现明显的酶棕显色颗粒,它们的产生能被未经酶标半夏蛋白所抑制。子宫内膜和胚胎的其他部分均未见与半夏蛋白有专一性的结合。本文对半夏蛋白的抗生育机理进行了简略的讨论。     

Secreted and cellular proteochondroitin sulfates of a human B lymphoblastoid cell line contain different protein cores.

Proteoglycans of the human B lymphoblastoid cell line LICR-LON-HMy2 were metabolically labeled with [35S]sulfate. High-density fractions of 35S-labeled material separated by CsCl gradient ultracentrifugation were further purified by anion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Two proteoglycans, isolated from cell lysates and culture supernatants, were characterized by gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) in combination with enzymatic degradation. Treatment with chondroitinase AC completely degraded the glycosaminoglycan moiety of the proteoglycans. Three to 4 chondroitin sulfate chains (average molecular mass = 26 kDa) were estimated for each of the two proteoglycans. Differences between the proteochondroitin sulfates (CSPG) were observed in the content of N-linked oligosaccharides. After chondroitinase AC treatment the resulting band in SDS-PAGE of the secreted CSPG was sensitive to treatment with endoglycosidase F (Endo F) which further reduced the molecular mass from 30 to 21.5 kDa, whereas the band of the cellular CSPG after chondroitinase AC treatment (molecular mass = 30 kDa) remained resistant to Endo F treatment. The composition of amino acids was different in the protein cores, suggesting differences in the primary structure. Both CSPG contained a high percentage of glycine and serine. For both CSPG a molecular mass of approximately 135 kDa was deduced from the hydrodynamic sizes of the glycosaminoglycan chains obtained after alkaline/borohydride treatment and the migration of the protein/oligosaccharide complexes in SDS-PAGE. 75% of all [35S]sulfate-labeled molecules were found in the culture supernatant and 25% in the cellular fraction. 35S-Labeled material in the culture supernatant consisted exclusively of intact CSPG, whereas 35S-Labeled molecules in the cellular preparation consisted largely of free chondroitin sulfate chains. Only 8.3% of the cellular material, isolated from the microsomal fraction, was intact CSPG. In pulse-chase experiments maximal secretion of CSPG was found after 4 h, comprising approximately 40% of totally synthesized CSPG. From these experiments we tentatively conclude that a small proportion of CSPG synthesized by LICR-LON-HMy2 cells is membrane-associated, a larger portion is secreted, and another portion is intracellularly degraded.     

Specificity of aFlavobacterium in the metabolism of substituted chlorobenzoates

Summary A strain ofFlavobacterium breve capable of utilizing 3,5-dichlorosalicylate as a sole source of carbon and energy was identified. Degradation of 3,5-dichlorosolicylate, was specific as this strain did not metabolize dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid), 3,5-dicamba (3,5-dichloros2-methoxybenzoic acid), or 3,6-dichlorosalicylate. The organism was able to remove completely 3,5-dichlorosalicylate in the presence of three times as much 3,6-dichlorosalicylate being degraded. The organism was able to utilize 3,5-dichlorosalicylate at concentrations up to 1000g/ml. A mixture of 3,5 and 3,6-dichlorosalicylate isomers purified by biological destruction of the unwanted isomer (3,5-dichlorosalicylate) would be useful for producing isomerically pure dicamba, an important herbicide.     

Bayesian adaptive sequence alignment algorithms

The selection of a scoring matrix and gap penalty parameters continues to be an important problem in sequence alignment. We describe here an algorithm, the 'Bayes block aligner, which bypasses this requirement. Instead of requiring a fixed set of parameter settings, this algorithm returns the Bayesian posterior probability for the number of gaps and for the scoring matrices in any series of interest. Furthermore, instead of returning the single best alignment for the chosen parameter settings, this algorithm returns the posterior distribution of all alignments considering the full range of gapping and scoring matrices selected, weighing each in proportion to its probability based on the data. We compared the Bayes aligner with the popular Smith-Waterman algorithm with parameter settings from the literature which had been optimized for the identification of structural neighbors, and found that the Bayes aligner correctly identified more structural neighbors. In a detailed examination of the alignment of a pair of kinase and a pair of GTPase sequences, we illustrate the algorithm's potential to identify subsequences that are conserved to different degrees. In addition, this example shows that the Bayes aligner returns an alignment-free assessment of the distance between a pair of sequences.