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Background: Acquired idiopathic generalized anhidrosis (AIGA) leads to heat intolerance due to the loss or reduction in thermoregulatory sweating over an extensive area of the body. The pathomechanism of AIGA is still unclear but is believed to be autoimmune. Objectives: We investigated the clinical and pathological features of inflammatory AIGA (InfAIGA) and noninflammatory AIGA (non‐InfAIGA) within the skin. Methods: We compared anhidrotic and normohidrotic skin samples from 30 patients with InfAIGA and non‐InfAIGA, as well as skin samples of melanocytic nevus as a negative control. We conducted morphometric analysis and immunohistochemical analysis of cell types and expression of inflammatory molecules (TIA1, CXCR3 and MxA). MxA expression was used as a proxy for type 1 interferon activity. Results: We found that tissue samples from patients with InfAIGA exhibited inflammation within the sweat duct and atrophy of the sweat coil, whereas patients with non‐InfAIGA exhibited only atrophy of the sweat coil. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte infiltration and MxA expression were only observed in the sweat ducts of patients with InfAIGA. Conclusions: InfAIGA is associated with increased sweat duct inflammation and sweat coil atrophy, whereas non‐InfAIGA is only associated with sweat coil atrophy. These data suggest that inflammation leads to epithelial destruction of sweat ducts associated with the sweat coil atrophy and subsequent loss of function. Non‐InfAIGA may be regarded as a postinflammatory state of InfAIGA. These observations indicate the contribution of both type 1 and type 2 interferons to sweat gland injury. The mechanism involved is similar to the pathomechanism of alopecia areata (AA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural waterways are contaminated due to industrialization, urbanization, population growth etc., degrading their quality. Contaminated waterways cause numerous health and environmental hazards. Therefore, it is imperative to remove contaminants. Coagulation is one of the efficient primary chemical treatment methods that could be used to treat such contaminants. Natural coagulants have gained popularity in the water and wastewater treatment industry due to their advantage over chemical coagulants. Natural coagulants are derived from either plants, animals, or microorganisms. This study has elaborated on the nature and mechanisms, and types of natural coagulants. In this review work, many studies have proposed several types of natural coagulants. However, plant-based natural coagulants extracted from different plant components have been extensively discussed and compared based on their application and efficiency in water and waste treatment. The primary purpose of this review is to refine the knowledge on the potential use and optimization of the effectiveness of eco-friendly and sustainable natural coagulants. Besides, the development efforts and the barriers reported by recent findings for the commercialization of natural coagulants are also discussed. Further, few modified natural coagulants have also been presented for exploring the other possible approaches to promote their usage in water and wastewater treatment in the future studies.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of bone, a relatively rare primary malignant bone tumour, is a distinct clinicopathological entity as opposed to MFH derived from soft tissue. Although the true [...]

Three experiments investigated the effects of culture systems and renewal of medium (synthetic oviduct fluid medium (SOFM) supplemented with glutamine and amino acids) during in vitro development of in vitro-produced 2- to 4-cell bovine embryos. In Exp. 1, the early cleaved embryos were cultured under three different conditions for 186 h using 24-well dishes. The proportions of blastocysts (P < .05) and hatched blastocysts (P < .001) were lower for culture in SOFM + .8% BSA with renewal of medium at 48-h intervals (26.7 and 7.9%) than for cultures in SOFM + 10% human serum without renewal of medium (32.6 and 20.6%) and in SOFM + BSA without renewal of medium (32.2 and 23.0%). Two culture systems (well and microdrop) with or without renewal of medium (SOFM + BSA) were compared in Exp. 2 (186-h culture) and 3 (138-h culture). In Exp. 2, the microdrop system was superior (P < .05) to the well system for development of hatched blastocysts (19.1 and 11.7%), and the highest development to blastocysts (39.6%) and hatched blastocysts (27.8%) was observed in the microdrop system without renewal of medium. Experiment 3 also showed that the microdrop system was superior (P < .05) to the well system for development to blastocysts (32.7 and 27.2%), and the highest development rate to blastocysts (37.6%) occurred without renewal of medium. When the medium was not renewed in Exp. 2 and 3, the ammonium concentrations increased in both the well and microdrop systems. The results indicate that despite the reduction in ammonium concentrations resulting from medium renewal, renewal resulted in reduced development of embryos to hatched blastocysts in both the well and microdrop systems. Key Words: Fertilization, Development, Ammonium, Cattle, Embryos

Strokes result when ischemia (oxygen deprivation due to reduced blood flow) in the brain causes irreversible damage to nervous tissue. However, the ischemia is only the first step in a complex sequence of events which leads to irreversible damage. Although many pathologic changes occur in an environment of reduced oxygen, some researchers feel that the event leading directly to the death of neurons is the accumulation of calcium within the cell. Free calcium ions can accumulate within the cell by two basic mechanisms, the entry of calcium through receptor-operated channels, and entry through voltage-sensitive channels. Efforts to develop methods to reduce the rate at which irreversible damage occurs in starved brain tissue focus on blocking the entry of calcium into brain cells via these two pathways. In this research using an animal model (the cat) of ischemic brain damage, investigators tested the effects of nimodipine, a drug which blocks voltage-sensitive calcium channels, and MK-801, an antagonist of the neurotransmitter NMDA which blocks NMDA-receptor-operated calcium channels. While both MK-801 and nimodipine individually reduce the pathologic effects of ischemia somewhat, together the drugs are more effective. In the cats, the combination improved physiological measures of brain function, and also reduced the area of brain damaged by ischemia by more than a factor of five. The combination of the two drugs would seem to be a useful tool in the reduction of permanent damage resulting from brain ischemia. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)