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Objective: Spontaneous perirenal haemorrhage is a rare abdominal emergency most commonly caused by solid renal tumours. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of different diagnostic methods and treatment modalities. Material and Methods: A total of 9 patients (5 women and 4 men) with spontaneous subcapsular or perirenal haemorrhage caused by renal tumours were treated at two Finnish central hospitals over a period of 20 years. Results and Conclusions: All the patients presented with flank pain, often severe and associated with a palpable mass and a reduced haemoglobin concentration. Ultrasonography was abnormal in all cases where it was used, but was able to show the tumour and haemorrhage correctly in only one case (13%). Computed tomography had a sensitivity of 71%. Seven patients underwent extrafascial nephrectomy (5 renal cell cancers, 1 malignant oncocytoma and 1 angiomyolipoma) and two with known tuberous sclerosis and bilateral renal angiomyolipomas were treated by superselective embolization. As these few cases were all individual and were collected over a long period of time, general statements about diagnosis and treatment must be approached critically. It may be concluded, however, that spontaneous perirenal haemorrhage is often a surgical emergency necessitating great efforts in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Computed tomography should be performed on all patients nowadays. If the bleeding is caused by a malignant tumour, extrafascial nephrectomy is the treatment of choice. For those with benign tumours selective embolization should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolomics analysis generates vast arrays of data, necessitating comprehensive workflows involving expertise in analytics, biochemistry and bioinformatics in order to provide coherent and high-quality data that enable discovery of robust and biologically significant metabolic findings. In this protocol article, we introduce notame, an analytical workflow for non-targeted metabolic profiling approaches, utilizing liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. We provide an overview of lab protocols and statistical methods that we commonly practice for the analysis of nutritional metabolomics data. The paper is divided into three main sections: the first and second sections introducing the background and the study designs available for metabolomics research and the third section describing in detail the steps of the main methods and protocols used to produce, preprocess and statistically analyze metabolomics data and, finally, to identify and interpret the compounds that have emerged as interesting.

In this paper, we study a two-party pie-sharing problem in the presence of asymmetries in the stakeholders' private endowments. Both the two stakeholders and third-party arbitrators may influence the outcome. We consider Nash-demand negotiations, where the two stakeholders place demands and share the pie accordingly if demands are compatible, and elicit dictatorial allocations from the stakeholders and the arbitrators. The Nash demands by stakeholders are strategic; the dictatorial allocations by stakeholders and arbitrators are non-strategic. We are interested in the influence of the past arbitrator experience on stakeholder allocations and demands and the past stakeholder experience on third-party arbitration allocations. We find that the ex-arbitrators' stakeholder allocations differ more from the impartial ideal than the stakeholder allocations by those without arbitration experience. In contrast with previous findings, the arbitration outcomes do not depend on the asymmetries in the previous stakeholder roles.

Bone destruction is a hallmark of chronic inflammation, and bone-resorbing osteoclasts arising under such a condition differ from steady-state ones. However, osteoclast diversity remains poorly explored. Here, we combined transcriptomic profiling, differentiation assays and in vivo analysis in mouse to decipher specific traits for inflammatory and steady-state osteoclasts. We identified and validated the pattern-recognition receptors (PRR) Tlr2, Dectin-1, and Mincle, all involved in yeast recognition as major regulators of inflammatory osteoclasts. We showed that administration of the yeast probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 ( Sb ) in vivo reduced bone loss in ovariectomized but not sham mice by reducing inflammatory osteoclastogenesis. This beneficial impact of Sb is mediated by the regulation of the inflammatory environment required for the generation of inflammatory osteoclasts. We also showed that Sb derivatives as well as agonists of Tlr2, Dectin-1, and Mincle specifically inhibited directly the differentiation of inflammatory but not steady-state osteoclasts in vitro. These findings demonstrate a preferential use of the PRR-associated costimulatory differentiation pathway by inflammatory osteoclasts, thus enabling their specific inhibition, which opens new therapeutic perspectives for inflammatory bone loss., Competing Interests: MM, JH, LI, LC, MR, AB, AM, RP, TC, MT, CH, JA, SI, DS, DH, HG, FA, ID, AW No competing interests declared, DC, CB received a research grant from Biocodex. Biocodex had no role in the design of the study, in the analysis and interpretation of the data and in the preparation of the manuscript

Vultures constitute globally the most rapidly declining group of birds. Across their wide distribution range, they share common ecological functions and unfavourable conservation status while being associated with varying habitats, lifestyles, cultural standing, and threats. We reveal conceptualisations about the emblematic yet critically endangered Egyptian vulture along its migratory flyway from the Balkans through the Middle East to Africa. Information was gathered through interviews, focus group discussions, and market surveys, with 420 people in 11 participating countries contributing overall. Our results showed that all vultures are recognised primarily for the environmental cleaning services, but the level of awareness differs between countries. Τhe Egyptian vulture has some perceptual advantages based on its white color, migratory nature, and endangered conservation status. This underlines its suitability as a charismatic flagship species that can potentially benefit other vulture species and thus enforce broader vulture conservation initiatives., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10745-022-00340-6., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022.)

Bone remodeling is a tightly controlled mechanism in which osteoblasts (OB), the cells responsible for bone formation, osteoclasts (OC), the cells specialized for bone resorption, and osteocytes, the multifunctional mechanosensing cells embedded in the bone matrix, are the main actors. Increased oxidative stress in OB, the cells producing and mineralizing bone matrix, has been associated with osteoporosis development but the role of autophagy in OB has not yet been addressed. This is the goal of the present study. We first show that the autophagic process is induced in OB during mineralization. Then, using knockdown of autophagy-essential genes and OB-specific autophagy-deficient mice, we demonstrate that autophagy deficiency reduces mineralization capacity. Moreover, our data suggest that autophagic vacuoles could be used as vehicles in OB to secrete apatite crystals. In addition, autophagy-deficient OB exhibit increased oxidative stress and secretion of the receptor activator of NFKB1 (TNFSF11/RANKL), favoring generation of OC, the cells specialized in bone resorption. In vivo, we observed a 50% reduction in trabecular bone mass in OB-specific autophagy-deficient mice. Taken together, our results show for the first time that autophagy in OB is involved both in the mineralization process and in bone homeostasis. These findings are of importance for mineralized tissues which extend from corals to vertebrates and uncover new therapeutic targets for calcified tissue-related metabolic pathologies.

The incidence of oral tumors is increasing around the world and despite recent advances in early detection and diagnosis, current treatments are still unsatisfactory. Recent data suggest that tumor persistence and recurrence could be due to the presence of a rare cell population called cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are generally spared by traditional treatments. Therefore, identification and characterization of CSCs are extremely important to develop novel and effective treatment strategies for cancer. The aim of this study was to identify and isolate CSCs in an established murine head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell line and to investigate the influence of hypoxic conditions on the isolated cell popul-ation. Using the expression of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) enzymatic activity, which is now recognized as a CSC marker in various tumors, we isolated a cell population expressing high levels of ALDH1 (ALDH1high) representing 1±0.6% in the murine SCC-VII cell line. These cells were injected subcutaneously in syngeneic animals to evaluate their tumorigenic properties. For the lowest injected cell dose (250 injected cells), tumor occurrence and median tumor size were higher in ALDH1high injected mice than in ALDH1low injected mice. Following an in vivo passage and culture in serum-free medium, the percentage of ALDH1high cells increased by 3‑fold in SCC-VII CSCs (oral spheres) compared to the SCC-VII cell line. This percentage was further increased when oral spheres were cultured under hypoxic conditions. In conclusion, this study reports for the first time the isolation of HNSCC CSCs in a syngeneic mouse model and the use of hypoxia as a method to further enrich the ALDH1high cell population.

A biphasic outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella hadar affected canteen employees and workers at a construction site in central Italy in September 1994. There were 448 symptomatic cases, from 61 of whom group C Salmonella was isolated. Six cases were canteen employees. Twenty-two other individuals were asymptomatic excreters. There were 10 secondary cases. Working as a food handler at the canteen constituted an increased risk of infection, independently of ingestion of the food (odds ratio: 62.1; 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.5-406.6). Having eaten at the canteen on the 19th and 20th September was identified as risk factor for subjects symptomatic within 72 hours (relative risk (RR): 17.0, 95% CI: 2.3-124.3), and cooled meat salad was identified as the vehicle of infection (RR: 36.6, 95% CI: 14.3-93.8). The use of portable toilets was another possible route of transmission of infection for all cases (RR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0-1.6). The index case was a cook who had symptoms five days before the peak of the outbreak. From 27 individuals both symptomatic and asymptomatic excreters group B, group D and not-typed Salmonellas were isolated. This study underlines the problem of improper food handling in salmonellosis outbreaks and emphasizes the role of several vehicles in the transmission of salmonellosis in a community.

A modified first passage cell culture method, mouse inoculation test, and ELISA were compared for the detection of rabies in serially diluted field samples. Each original specimen contained rabies antigen, individually identified as an arctic strain by monoclonal antibodies. In 47% of the samples tested in cell cultures, the end-point titer was increased as a result of the first passage. The cell culture method gave higher titers than the mouse inoculation test or ELISA (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.01, respectively).