A variation in the infant oxytocin receptor gene modulates infant hippocampal volumes in association with sex and prenatal maternal anxiety.

Genetic variants in the oxytocin receptor (OTR) have been linked to distinct social phenotypes, psychiatric disorders and brain volume alterations in adults. However, to date, it is unknown how OTR genotype shapes prenatal brain development and whether it interacts with maternal prenatal environmental risk factors on infant brain volumes. In 105 Finnish mother-infant dyads (44 female, 11-54 days old), the association of offspring OTR genotype rs53576 and its interaction with prenatal maternal anxiety (revised Symptom Checklist 90, gestational weeks 14, 24, 34) on infant bilateral amygdalar, hippocampal and caudate volumes were probed. A sex-specific main effect of rs53576 on infant left hippocampal volumes was observed. In boys compared to girls, left hippocampal volumes were significantly larger in GG-homozygotes compared to A-allele carriers. Furthermore, genotype rs53576 and prenatal maternal anxiety significantly interacted on right hippocampal volumes irrespective of sex. Higher maternal anxiety was associated both with larger hippocampal volumes in A-allele carriers than GG-homozygotes, and, though statistically weak, also with smaller right caudate volumes in GG-homozygotes than A-allele carriers. Our study results suggest that OTR genotype enhances hippocampal neurogenesis in male GG-homozygotes. Further, prenatal maternal anxiety might induce brain alterations that render GG-homozygotes compared to A-allele carriers more vulnerable to depression.

Partial Support for an Interaction Between a Polygenic Risk Score for Major Depressive Disorder and Prenatal Maternal Depressive Symptoms on Infant Right Amygdalar Volumes.

Psychiatric disease susceptibility partly originates prenatally and is shaped by an interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors. A recent study has provided preliminary evidence that an offspring polygenic risk score for major depressive disorder (PRS-MDD), based on European ancestry, interacts with prenatal maternal depressive symptoms (GxE) on neonatal right amygdalar (US and Asian cohort) and hippocampal volumes (Asian cohort). However, to date, this GxE interplay has only been addressed by one study and is yet unknown for a European ancestry sample. We investigated in 105 Finnish mother-infant dyads (44 female, 11-54 days old) how offspring PRS-MDD interacts with prenatal maternal depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, gestational weeks 14, 24, 34) on infant amygdalar and hippocampal volumes. We found a GxE effect on right amygdalar volumes, significant in the main analysis, but nonsignificant after multiple comparison correction and some of the control analyses, whose direction paralleled the US cohort findings. Additional exploratory analyses suggested a sex-specific GxE effect on right hippocampal volumes. Our study is the first to provide support, though statistically weak, for an interplay of offspring PRS-MDD and prenatal maternal depressive symptoms on infant limbic brain volumes in a cohort matched to the PRS-MDD discovery sample.

Halitosis en otorrinolaringología: una revisión de la literatura / Halitosis in otolaryngology: a review of the literature

RESUMEN La halitosis es un motivo de consulta frecuente y que puede repercutir de gran manera en la calidad de vida de quien la presenta. Puede dividirse en halitosis genuina, pseudohalitosis y halitofobia. De las halitosis genuinas, cerca del 90% son secundarias a patología de la cavidad oral. En otorrinolaringología, las principales causas responden a tonsilolitiasis, patología rinosinusal y cuerpos extraños nasales. Existen distintos métodos diagnósticos que permiten medir e identificar la halitosis, con sus beneficios y desventajas. Las medidas generales de higiene oral, así como intervenciones específicas deben estar basadas en la evidencia a cargo de un equipo multidisciplinario que permita garantizar mejores resultados.

ABSTRACT Halitosis is a frequent health problem, that can have a huge impact in the quality of life of those affected. It can be classified as genuine halitosis, pseudohalitosis and halitophobia. Of genuine halitosis, approximately 90% is originated from the oral cavity. In otorhinolaryngology, most frequent causes are tonsiloliths, rhinosinusitis and nasal foreign bodies. There are different diagnostic methods, each one with its benefits and disadvantages. General measures of oral hygiene, as specific interventions must be evidence-based in charge of a multidisciplinary team that guarantees better results.

Active prokaryotic population dynamics exhibit high correlation to reactor performance during methane production from acid hydrolysates of Agave tequilana var. azul bagasse.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to apply cDNA approach for the characterization of active prokaryotic community to understand microbial scenarios and performance of an AnSBR digester fed with acid hydrolysates of Agave tequilana var. azul bagasse (ATAB). METHODS AND RESULTS: The digester was implemented for methane production under organic loading rate (OLR) disturbances to correlate physicochemical variables with changes in abundance, diversity and population dynamics of active Bacteria and Archaea by principal components analysis (PCA). Results indicated that methane yield increased as well as active syntrophic relationships for interspecies hydrogen/formate (Anaerolinaceae-Methanobacterium beijingense) and acetate (Anaerolinaceae-Methanosaeta concilii) transfers at 8 g-COD l-1  day-1 . However, methane yield was negatively affected at 16 g-COD l-1  day-1 due to the competition for acetate by active Desulfovibrio marrakechensis and volatile fatty acids inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Microbial scenarios obtained by PCA correlations indicated that methane production from acid hydrolysates of ATAB was feasible at 8 g-COD l-1  day-1 . The digester operation at higher OLR only favoured methanogenesis by the hydrogenotrophic pathway. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Only cDNA analysis showed Archaea population dynamics, exhibiting high correlation with physicochemical variables towards the understanding of the methanogenic digester performance during OLR disturbances.

Schizotypy and mentalizing: An fMRI study.

INTRODUCTION: Schizotypy is a personality trait characterized by subclinical schizophrenia symptoms. Individuals with schizophrenia typically display behavioral mentalizing deficits and altered neural correlates during mentalizing. While schizotypy has been inconsistently related to behavioral mentalizing skills, its neural correlates of mentalizing are understudied so far. With this study we tested the association between schizotypy traits in healthy subjects and mentalizing-related neural correlates to provide new insights into neural processes associated with subclinical schizophrenia traits. METHODS: Brain activation was measured using fMRI during an interactive mentalizing paradigm (Prisoner's Dilemma Game) in 164 healthy subjects. The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ-B) was administered to assess the three dimensions of schizotypy, i.e., cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal and disorganized. RESULTS: We found that interpersonal schizotypy was significantly negatively correlated with brain activation in bilateral precunei and right caudate nucleus (among others) during mentalizing. By contrast, disorganized schizotypy was significantly positively correlated with mentalizing-associated neural activation in right precuneus, left middle cingulate cortex and right cerebellar hemisphere. No significant associations for cognitive-perceptual schizotypy and the SPQ-B total score were found. DISCUSSION: Our study showed that interpersonal and disorganized schizotypy are associated with neural correlates of mentalizing in brain regions that are involved in self-processing and mentalizing. These brain regions have also been linked to mentalizing in schizophrenia.

Estudio sobre el uso de plaguicidas y su posible relación con daños a la salud / Study on the use of pesticides and their possible relationship with health damage

Los efectos nocivos de los plaguicidas en la salud humana se encuentran documentados. Sin embargo, la información se encuentra limitada por una serie de barreras que dificultan la obtención de evidencias estadísticas para mostrar a la sociedad las afectaciones adversas de esos productos químicos. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la frecuencia del uso, así como el conocimiento que tienen los agricultores sobre los efectos negativos de la aplicación de plaguicidas y su posible relación con daños a la salud de habitantes del Ejido Guadalupe Victoria Municipio de Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, México. Los datos se obtuvieron mediante encuestas realizadas a personas mayores de 20 años de edad, que han vivido en la localidad durante toda su vida. Los resultados mostraron que el 83% de la población evaluada trabaja en labores agrícolas, los agroquímicos mostrados como posibles cancerígenos se aplican con frecuencia, la mayoría de las personas indicaron desconocimiento del uso y aplicación de agroquímicos, mientras que el 73% no utilizan protección cuando los aplica. Asimismo, el 55.9% reportó tener algún miembro de la familia fallecido por causa de algún tipo de cáncer; de los cuales los más comunes fueron pulmón y estómago. Son necesarios estudios a largo plazo para corroborar la relación de los plaguicidas con daños a la salud

The harmful effects of pesticides on human health are documented. However, the information is limited by a series of barriers that make it difficult to obtain statistical evidence to show society the adverse effects of these chemicals. The objective of this study was to decide the frequency of use, as well as the knowledge about the negative effects of pesticide application and its possible relationship with damage to the health of inhabitants of the Ejido Guadalupe Victoria Municipality of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico. The data were obtained through surveys conducted on people over 20 years of age, who have lived in the town throughout their lives. The results showed that 83% of the population evaluated work in agricultural work, agrochemicals shown as possible carcinogens are frequently applied, most people indicated ignorance of the use and application of agrochemicals, while 73% do not use protection when applies them. Also, 55.9% reported having a family member who died due to some type of cancer; of which the most common were lung and stomach. Long-term studies are necessary to corroborate the relationship of pesticides with health damage

Chikungunya: educación y prevención como pilares fundamentales para enfermedad sin cura / Chikungunya: education and prevention as fundamental support for disease without cure

Chikungunya virus is an alphavirus, member of the Togaviridae family, first discovered in Africa in 1952. Since then it caused sporadic outbreaks in Africa and Asia, but since 2000, outbreaks had been more frequent, being identified in Europe, America and the Caribbean. Chikungunya virus can cause chronic and incapacitating arthralgia, with an important morbidity, being considered as a relevant re-emerging public health problem. This review intends to update our knowledge in epidemiology, transmission, pathogenesis, treatment and vaccination strategies of Chikungunya virus. (AU)

A voxel-based morphometry study on adult attachment style and affective loss.

The successful recovery from affective loss (i.e., bereavement, relationship breakup) has been linked to adult attachment style (AAS), a personality trait. Up to now, the association between AAS, affective loss experiences and brain gray matter volume is unclear. In 192 healthy subjects we investigated the association between MRI brain gray matter volume, applying voxel based morphometry, AAS (Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ), subscales "avoidance" (AV) and "anxiety" (ANX)), and number of affective losses within the last 5 years (AL; List of Threatening Experiences Questionnaire). In a whole-brain analysis (p < 0.05 FWE-corrected) ANX compared to AV was significantly more positively associated with brain gray matter volume in the left insula and in the pars opercularis of left inferior frontal gyrus. In additional region-of-interest (ROI) analyses (p < 0.05 FWE-corrected), based on previously reported findings, no significant associations were observed. ANX and AV differently correlate with local volumes of the left insula and pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus, which are implicated in emotion processing, empathy and emotion regulation among other functions. Our results support the notion that individual attachment styles, which develop in the interplay of genes and social environment, differ in their correlation with brain structure.

Enolase from Trypanosoma cruzi is inhibited by its interaction with metallocarboxypeptidase-1 and a putative acireductone dioxygenase.

Purification of enolase (ENO) from the cytosol of Trypanosoma cruzi indicated that it may interact with at least five other proteins. Two of them were identified as metallocarboxypeptidase-1 (TcMCP-1) and a putative acireductone dioxygenase (ARDp). Subcellular localization studies confirmed the presence of ARDp in the cytosol, as is the case for ENO and TcMCP-1. Analysis of the ARDp sequence showed that this protein has two domains, an N-terminal ARD and a C-terminal TRP14 (thioredoxin-related protein) domain. The interactions between ENO, TcMCP-1 and ARDp were confirmed for the natural proteins from the trypanosome (using size-exclusion chromatography and co-immunoprecipitation from a cytosolic fraction) and recombinant forms (using ELISA ligand-binding assay and ENO activity assays). The ELISA ligand-binding assays permitted to verify the optimal physicochemical conditions for the interactions (representative for the physiological conditions) and to determine the affinity constants (Kd): ENO/ARDp: 9.54 ±â€¯0.82 nM, ARDp/ENO 10.05 ±â€¯1.11 nM, and ENO/TcMCP-1: 5.66 ±â€¯0.61 nM. The data also show that the interaction between TcMCP-1 and ARDp is mediated by ENO acting as a "bridge". Furthermore, considerable inhibition of the ENO activity, up to 85%, is observed when the enzyme interacts with TcMCP-1 and ARDp simultaneously. All these data confirm that the interaction between ENO, TcMCP-1 and ARDp, occurring in T. cruzi's cytosol, modulates the ENO activity and suggest a possible physiological mechanism for regulation of the ENO activity by the protein-protein interaction.

A hybrid cascade control scheme for the VFA and COD regulation in two-stage anaerobic digestion processes.

A hybrid (continuous-discrete) cascade control is proposed to regulate both, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations in two-stage (acidogenic-methanogenic) anaerobic digestion (TSAD) processes. The outer loop is a discrete controller that regulates the COD concentration of the methanogenic bioreactor by using a daily off-line measurement and that modifies the set-point tracked by inner loop, which manipulates the dilution rate to regulate the VFA concentration of the acidogenic bioreactor, estimated by continuous on-line conductivity measurements, avoiding acidification. The experimental validation was conducted in a TSAD process for the treatment of tequila vinasses during 110days. Results showed that the proposed cascade control scheme was able to achieve the VFA and COD regulation by using conventional measurements under different set-point values in spite of adverse common scenarios in full-scale anaerobic digestion processes. Microbial composition analysis showed that the controller also favors the abundance and diversity toward methane production.

Biogas production in an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor by using tequila vinasses: effect of pH and temperature.

In recent years, anaerobic digestion has been recognized as a suitable alternative for tequila vinasses treatment due to its high energy recovery and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency. However, key factors such as the lack of suitable monitoring schemes and the presence of load disturbances, which may induce unstable operating conditions in continuous systems, have limited its application at full scale. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (AnSBR) configuration in order to provide a low cost and easy operation alternative for the treatment of these complex effluents. In particular, the AnSBR was evaluated under different pH-temperature combinations: 7 and 32 °C; 7 and 38 °C; 8 and 32 °C and 8 and 38 °C. Results showed that the AnSBR configuration was able to achieve high COD removal efficiencies (around 85%) for all the tested conditions, while the highest methane yield was obtained at pH 7 and 38 °C (0.29 L/g COD added). Furthermore, high robustness was found in all the AnSBR experiments. Therefore, the full-scale application of the AnSBR technology for the treatment of tequila vinasses is quite encouraging, in particular for small and medium size tequila industries that operate under seasonal conditions.

Nefrectomía robótica del donante vivo para trasplante: primer caso en latinoamérica / Living robotic donor nephrectomy: the first case in latin america

Introduction: Living donor nephrectomy is the best alternative of treatment for patients with chronic renal disease. Even though open surgery remains the gold standard for donor nephrectomy, laparoscopic surgery has become a feasible alternative in referral centers. To minimize the long learning curve associated with this procedure, some centers have introduced robotic donor nephrectomy as a surgical option. Aim: To present the first robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in Latin America. Clinical case: The donor is a 50 years old male, living-related to the recipient by affinity (husband/wife). The recipient is a 54 years old female with history of end-stage renal disease waiting to initiate dialysis program. A left transperitoneal robotic-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy employing the da Vinci Si® (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale CA.) is performed. Mean operative time was 188 minutes with an estimated blood loss of 300 ml. Mean ischemia time was 6 minutes. The graft presented immediate function. Both patients were discharged at 72 h. Conclusion: Living donor robotic-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy is a safe and viable procedure. Larger series are needed to establish its role.

Introducción: La donación renal en pacientes vivos relacionados es la mejor alternativa de tratamiento para pacientes con insuficiencia renal crónica. La cirugía abierta es el procedimiento de elección; sin embargo, la nefrectomía laparoscópica se ha convertido en una opción viable en centros con experiencia. Con el propósito de disminuír los tiempos de la curva de aprendizaje, algunos centros han introducido la nefrectomía robótica del donante vivo como una opción quirúrgica. Objetivo: Presentar la primera nefrectomía robótica del donante vivo realizada en Latinoamérica. Caso clínico: Paciente de 50 años, esposo, donante vivo relacionado, por afinidad (esposo-esposa). La receptora tiene 54 años con antecedente de insuficiencia renal crónica terminal en espera de ingreso a programa de hemodiálisis. Se realizó nefrectomía robótica izquierda del donante utilizando el sistema robótico da Vinci Si® (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale CA.) mediante abordaje transperitoneal. El tiempo quirúrgico total fue de 188 min, con un sangrado estimado de 300 ml., y un tiempo de isquemia de 6 min. El injerto presentó inicio inmediato de la función. Ambos pacientes fueron dados de alta a las 72 h. Conclusión: La nefrectomía robótica del donante vivo para trasplante es una alternativa segura y factible. Comunicaciones con series con mayor número de pacientes, son necesarias para establecer su definitivo rol.

Anaerobic treatment of tequila vinasses under seasonal operating conditions: start-up, normal operation and restart-up after a long stop and starvation period.

This study examines the performance of an anaerobic fixed-film bioreactor under seasonal operating conditions prevailing in medium and small size Tequila factories: start-up, normal operation and particularly, during the restart-up after a long stop and starvation period. The proposed start-up procedure attained a stable biofilm in a rather short period (28 days) despite unbalanced COD/N/P ratio and the use of non-acclimated inoculum. The bioreactor was restarted-up after being shut down for 6 months during which the inoculum starved. Even when biofilm detachment and bioreactor clogging were detected at the very beginning of restart-up, results show that the bioreactor performed better as higher COD removal and methane yield were attained. CE-SSCP and Q-PCR analyses, conducted on the biofilm prokaryotic communities for each operating condition, confirmed that the high COD removal results after the bioreactor clogging and the severe starvation period were mainly due to the stable archaeal and resilient bacterial populations.

Glycosomal targets for anti-trypanosomatid drug discovery.

Glycosomes are peroxisome-related organelles found in all kinetoplastid protists, including the human pathogenic species of the family Trypanosomatidae: Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania spp. Glycosomes are unique in containing the majority of the glycolytic/gluconeogenic enzymes, but they also possess enzymes of several other important catabolic and anabolic pathways. The different metabolic processes are connected by shared cofactors and some metabolic intermediates, and their relative importance differs between the parasites or their distinct lifecycle stages, dependent on the environmental conditions encountered. By genetic or chemical means, a variety of glycosomal enzymes participating in different processes have been validated as drug targets. For several of these enzymes, as well as others that are likely crucial for proliferation, viability or virulence of the parasites, inhibitors have been obtained by different approaches such as compound libraries screening or design and synthesis. The efficacy and selectivity of some initially obtained inhibitors of parasite enzymes were further optimized by structure-activity relationship analysis, using available protein crystal structures. Several of the inhibitors cause growth inhibition of the clinically relevant stages of one or more parasitic trypanosomatid species and in some cases exert therapeutic effects in infected animals. The integrity of glycosomes and proper compartmentalization of at least several matrix enzymes is also crucial for the viability of the parasites. Therefore, proteins involved in the assembly of the organelles and transmembrane passage of substrates and products of glycosomal metabolism offer also promise as drug targets. Natural products with trypanocidal activity by affecting glycosomal integrity have been reported.

Neural network modeling of the light profile in a novel photobioreactor.

An artificial neural network (ANN) was implemented to model the light profile pattern inside a photobioreactor (PBR) that uses a toroidal light arrangement. The PBR uses Tequila vinasses as culture medium and purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris as biocatalyzer. The performance of the ANN was tested for a number of conditions and compared to those obtained by using deterministic models. Both ANN and deterministic models were validated experimentally. In all cases, at low biomass concentration, model predictions yielded determination coefficients greater than 0.9. Nevertheless, ANN yielded the more accurate predictions of the light pattern, at both low and high biomass concentration, when the bioreactor radius, the depth, the rotational speed of the stirrer and the biomass concentration were incorporated in the ANN structure. In comparison, most of the deterministic models failed to correlate the empirical data at high biomass concentration. These results show the usefulness of ANNs in the modeling of the light profile pattern in photobioreactors.

Modificaciones de diseño protésico para mejorar estética en prótesis parcial removible metálica / Modifications in removable partial dentures design looking for better aesthetic results

Pese al innegable incremento en la utilización de implantes óseo integrados en el tratamiento de la extensa problemática de la desdentación parcial, la confección de prótesis removibles metálicas continua siendo a escala mundial, el principal recurso terapéutico vigente. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista del paciente, la recuperación de la función estética es su principal falencia. Proponemos entonces, extender la utilización del principio de retención friccional inherente a la prótesis fija, mediante la preparación de "facetas retentivas friccionales" en ciertos dientes pilares, generando de este modo artificios protésicos removibles con suficiente retención, sin exhibir elementos metálicos en los sectores anteriores de la cavidad bucal. Se exponen cinco casos clínicos que respaldan la validez nuestra propuesta tras una correcta indicación (AU)

Despite the fact that nowadays the use of Osseo integrated implants is increasing worldwide nevertheless removable partial dentures with cast metal frameworks is still the most indicated treatment for cases of partial edentulism. However, patients remain reluctant regarding the aesthetic impairment brought by some of the removable partial dentures' components. Therefore we propose to apply to removable partial dentures some of the frictional retention's principles used in fixed prostheses, preparing instead of conventional guiding planes in some abutment teeth, a more wide and extensive platform what we so-called "frictional retentive facets". Accordingly we can afford to provide enough retention to our removable devices without exposing unaesthetic components such as vestibular retentive arms. Five clinical cases will be shown in order to sustain our proposal keeping in mind the need of respecting the right indication (AU)

Monitoring anaerobic sequential batch reactors via fractal analysis of pH time series.

Efficient monitoring and control schemes are mandatory in the current operation of biological wastewater treatment plants because they must accomplish more demanding environmental policies. This fact is of particular interest in anaerobic digestion processes where the availability of accurate, inexpensive, and suitable sensors for the on-line monitoring of key process variables remains an open problem nowadays. In particular, this problem is more challenging when dealing with batch processes where the monitoring strategy has to be performed in finite time, which limits the application of current advanced monitoring schemes as those based in the proposal of nonlinear observers (i.e., software sensors). In this article, a fractal time series analysis of pH fluctuations in an anaerobic sequential batch reactor (AnSBR) used for the treatment of tequila vinasses is presented. Results indicated that conventional on-line pH measurements can be correlated with off-line determined key process variables, such as COD, VFA and biogas production via some fractality indexes.

Regulation of the organic pollution level in anaerobic digesters by using off-line COD measurements.

A sampled delayed scheme is proposed to regulate the organic pollution level in anaerobic digestion processes by using off-line COD measurements. The proposed scheme is obtained by combining an error feedback control with a steady state estimator to track constant references and attenuate process load disturbances. The controller performance is tested experimentally for the treatment of tequila vinasses over a period of 68days under different set-point values and several uncertain scenarios which include badly known kinetic parameters and load disturbances. Experimental results show that the COD concentration can be effectively regulated under the influence of set-point changes and high load disturbances by using only a daily off-line COD measurement, which makes the industrial application of the proposed control scheme feasible.

Observer-based input estimation in continuous anaerobic wastewater treatment processes.

In this paper a "virtually controlled observer" (VCO) is proposed to estimate simultaneously the influent substrate concentration and unmeasured state variables in continuous anaerobic digestion processes. The hypothetical (unmeasured) influent substrate concentration is updated by a feedback control, which is regulated by the estimation error of a measured output. The proposed approach is firstly illustrated upon a simple continuous bioprocess. Then, the performance of the observer is tested via numerical simulations in a continuous anaerobic digestion model. Results showed that it is possible to estimate both, the influent substrate concentration and unmeasured states in the digester in the face of parametric uncertainties.

Gene array analysis comparison between rat collagen-induced arthritis and human rheumatoid arthritis.

Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) is an experimental arthritis model used to study the inflammatory processes in this disease and test potential therapeutics. In order to better characterize this model, we conducted the first comprehensive gene expression analysis of rat CIA. To evaluate how closely the rat model reflects human rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we also analysed gene expression in human RA, using genome-wide Affymetrix gene arrays. By applying multiple strategies, including comparison of the highest induced genes, expression of immunological-associated genes as well as Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), we were able to compare the two expression profiles. Among the highest induced genes in RA were several B-cell-associated genes, including immunoglobulins, B-cell markers such as CD20, and cytokines and chemokines that act on B cells such as TNFSF13b/BLyS and CXCL13, none of which was upregulated in CIA. The latter was instead characterized by the upregulation of genes expressed primarily in macrophages and dendritic cells. Of the 22 pathways identified as significant in both diseases by IPA, only three (IL6, chemokine signalling and antigen presentation) were present in both settings. We conclude that there are significant differences in the inflammatory mechanisms between human RA and rat CIA, and that genome-wide comparative gene expression analyses are useful tools to evaluate the relevance of animal models to human disease.