Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Renal vasculitis is usually associated with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs). However, non-ANCA patients constitute a rarely studied variant of renal vasculitis. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the features of renal involvement in patients with primary systemic non-ANCA associated vasculitis (NAAV) and compare essential cryoglobulinemic vasculitis (ECV) with classic polyarteritis nodosa (PAN).
METHODS:
The study included 30 patients with primary systemic non-ANCA associated vasculitis (NAAV). Fifteen with ECV and another 15 patients with classic PAN. The patients were recruited from the Rheumatology and Internal medicine departments and outpatient clinics of Cairo University Hospitals. The patients had no or mild renal involvement at entry and the ANCA was negative as tested by immunoflourescence and ELISA. Renal biopsy was performed for all the patients and histopathologically studied.
RESULTS:
Renal biopsy abnormalities were seen in six females. One patient with PAN showed renal vasculitis and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) and was HBV and ANA positive. The patient had negative HCV and cryoglobulins. Five patients with ECV-associated HCV had findings; one had chronic interstitial nephritis and was HBV positive. The other four were HBV negative with MPGN in two, focal proliferative and crescentic GN in one patient each.
CONCLUSIONS:
Increased understanding of the manifestations of systemic vasculitis is likely to provide the basis for the use of more selective immunomodulatory therapies in the future. It is our hope that this study will raise awareness of the non ANCA-associated vasculitic renal involvement

OBJECTIVES:

To verify the relation of gout to insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and find any association of metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint erosions to the features of MetS and IR.

METHODS:

Forty-six primary gout male patients with a mean age of 41.96 ± 5.77 years were grouped according to the presence of MetS. Twenty-seven age and sex matched healthy volunteers served as controls. Insulin sensitivity was estimated using the homeostatic model assessment index (HOMA-B) for beta cell function and HOMA-IR for peripheral tissue IR.

RESULTS:

Gout patients had significantly higher HOMA-IR and HOMA-B compared to controls. Those with MetS (n = 27) had significantly higher serum uric acid (SUA) than those without (n = 19; 11.51 ± 3.72 mg/dL vs. 9.15 ± 2.34 mg/dL; P = 0.012). Gout patients with MTP erosions had notable higher insulin levels and more IR as shown by the higher levels of HOMA-IR and HOMA-B compared to those without. HOMA-IR and HOMA-B significantly correlated with the presence of erosions. Moreover, the presence of erosions significantly correlated with SUA (r = 0.64, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS:

The level of SUA is closely related to IR in patients with and without MetS. There is an association of the severity of gout and presence of MTP erosions to IR. Metabolic syndrome forms an important marker for those who develop more punched-out erosions.

Neuroinflammation, a major component of many CNS disorders, has been suggested to be associated with diacetyl (DA) exposure. DA is commonly used as a food flavoring additive and condiment. Lately, silymarin (Sily) has shown protective and therapeutic effects on neuronal inflammation. The study aimed to explore the role of Sily in protecting and/or treating DA-induced neuroinflammation. Neuroinflammation was induced in rats by administering DA (25 mg/kg) orally. Results revealed that Sily (50 mg/kg) obviously maintained cognitive and behavioral functions, alleviated brain antioxidant status, and inhibited microglial activation. Sily enhanced IL-10, GDNF and Dyn levels, reduced IFN-γ, TNFα, and IL-1β levels, and down-regulated the MAPK pathway. Immunohistochemical investigation of EGFR and GFAP declared that Sily could conserve neurons from inflammatory damage. However, with continuing DA exposure during Sily treatment, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation were less mitigated. These findings point to a novel mechanism involving the Dyn/GDNF and MAPK pathway through which Sily might prevent and treat DA-induced neuroinflammation.

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that universally affects millions of people. Despite numerous well-defined medications, asthma is poorly managed. This study aims to clarify the potential therapeutic effect of Dapagliflozin (DAPA) against lung inflammation, oxidative stress, and associated bronchospasm in OVA-sensitized rat asthma model.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Twenty-five rats were allocated into (Control, Asthma, DEXA, DAPA, and DAPA+DEXA). All treatments were administered orally once a day for two weeks. The BALF levels of IL-17, TNFα, IL-1β, and MCP-1 were determined to assess airway inflammation. For oxidative stress determination, BALF MDA levels and TAC were measured. The BALF S100A4 level and NO/sGC/cGMP pathway were detected. Lung histopathological findings and immunohistochemical investigation of eNOS and iNOS activities were recorded.

RESULTS: DAPA significantly reduced () airway inflammatory-oxidative markers (IL-17, TNFα, IL-1β, MCP1, and MDA), but increased () TAC, and mitigated bronchospasm by activating NO/sGC/cGMP and reducing S100A4 (). The biochemical and western blot studies were supported by histopathological and immunohistochemical investigations.

CONCLUSIONS: DAPA presents a new prospective possibility for future asthma therapy due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and bronchodilator properties. DAPA has the property of reducing Dexamethasone (DEXA)-associated unfavorable effects during asthma treatment.

In a pandemic era, rapid infectious disease diagnosis is essential. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) promises sensitive and specific diagnosis including rapid point-of-care detection and drug susceptibility testing. SERS utilizes inelastic light scattering arising from the interaction of incident photons with molecular vibrations, enhanced by orders of magnitude with resonant metallic or dielectric nanostructures. While SERS provides a spectral fingerprint of the sample, clinical translation is lagged due to challenges in consistency of spectral enhancement, complexity in spectral interpretation, insufficient specificity and sensitivity, and inefficient workflow from patient sample collection to spectral acquisition. Here, we highlight the recent, complementary advances that address these shortcomings, including (1) design of label-free SERS substrates and data processing algorithms that improve spectral signal and interpretability, essential for broad pathogen screening assays; (2) development of new capture and affinity agents, such as aptamers and polymers, critical for determining the presence or absence of particular pathogens; and (3) microfluidic and bioprinting platforms for efficient clinical sample processing. We also describe the development of low-cost, point-of-care, optical SERS hardware. Our paper focuses on SERS for viral and bacterial detection, in hopes of accelerating infectious disease diagnosis, monitoring, and vaccine development. With advances in SERS substrates, machine learning, and microfluidics and bioprinting, the specificity, sensitivity, and speed of SERS can be readily translated from laboratory bench to patient bedside, accelerating point-of-care diagnosis, personalized medicine, and precision health.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a promising cellular identification and drug susceptibility testing platform, provided it can be performed in a controlled liquid environment that maintains cell viability. We investigate bacterial liquid-SERS, studying plasmonic and electrostatic interactions between gold nanorods and bacteria that enable uniformly enhanced SERS. We synthesize five nanorod sizes with longitudinal plasmon resonances ranging from 670 to 860 nm and characterize SERS signatures of Gram-negative and and Gram-positive and bacteria in water. Varying the concentration of bacteria and nanorods, we achieve large-area SERS enhancement that is independent of nanorod resonance and bacteria type; however, bacteria with higher surface charge density exhibit significantly higher SERS signal. Using cryo-electron microscopy and zeta potential measurements, we show that the higher signal results from attraction between positively charged nanorods and negatively charged bacteria. Our robust liquid-SERS measurements provide a foundation for bacterial identification and drug testing in biological fluids.