Anticyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibodies 3.1 and Anti-CCP-IgA Are Associated with Increasing Age in Individuals Without Rheumatoid Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association of age and anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) in subjects without rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Serum was tested for anti-CCP3.1 (IgG/IgA) in 678 first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with RA and 330 patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Individual isotypes (anti-CCP-IgA and anti-CCP-IgG) were also tested in all FDR. RESULTS: In FDR, increasing age was significantly associated with positivity for anti-CCP3.1 (per year, OR 1.03) and anti-CCP-IgA (per year, OR 1.05) but not anti-CCP-IgG. In FDR and OA subjects, anti-CCP3.1 prevalence was significantly increased after age 50 years. CONCLUSION: Increasing age in individuals without RA should be considered in the interpretation of anti-CCP3.1 positivity.

Chemical basis for the disparate neuroprotective effects of the anthocyanins, callistephin and kuromanin, against nitrosative stress.

Oxidative and nitrosative stress are major factors in neuronal cell death underlying neurodegenerative disease. Thus, supplementation of antioxidant defenses may be an effective therapeutic strategy for diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. In this regard, treatment with nutraceutical antioxidants has garnered increasing attention; however, the differential neuroprotective effects of structurally similar nutraceuticals, which may affect their suitability as therapeutic agents, has not been directly examined. In this study we compare the ability of two anthocyanins, callistephin (pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside) and kuromanin (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside) to protect cerebellar granule neurons from damage induced by either oxidative or nitrosative stress. These anthocyanins differ by the presence of a single hydroxyl group on the B-ring of kuromanin, forming a catechol moiety. While both compounds protected neurons from oxidative stress induced by glutamate excitotoxicity, a stark contrast was observed under conditions of nitrosative stress. Only kuromanin displayed the capacity to defend neurons from nitric oxide (NO)-induced apoptosis. This protective effect was blocked by addition of Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase, indicating that the neuroprotective mechanism is superoxide dependent. Based on these observations, we suggest a unique mechanism by which slight structural variances, specifically the absence or presence of a catechol moiety, lend kuromanin the unique ability to generate superoxide, which acts as a scavenger of NO. These findings indicate that kuromanin and compounds that share similar chemical characteristics may be more effective therapeutic agents for treating neurodegenerative diseases than callistephin and related (non-catechol) compounds.

Mycobacterial infections in human immuno-deficiency virus seropositive patients: role of non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

BACKGROUND: There is high prevalence of tuberculosis in patients with HIV infection; hence the role of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in HIV patients has always been undermined. NTM may be responsible for clinical disease in a substantial number of immuno-compromised HIV sero-positive individuals even in a country endemic for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). The study was designed to look for the contribution of NTM to morbidity in HIV seropositive patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a prospective study of ninety-four HIV seropositive individuals presenting with pulmonary or extra-pulmonary symptoms suggestive of mycobacterial infection, appropriate samples were collected and processed. Detailed clinical history was utilized to differentiate colonization or contamination by NTM from true lung disease. RESULTS: Fourteen samples grew mycobacterial species, 8(57.2%) being NTM. The distribution of NTM was--3 M. avium complex, 2 M. fortuitum, 2 M. vaccae, 1 M. phlei. 6 isolates were M. tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: NTM may be responsible for a significant proportion of mycobacterial infections in HIV seropositive individuals. Despite the high endemicity of tuberculosis in developing countries like India, the presence of NTM should be ruled out; especially in immuno-compromised HIV seropositive individuals before instituting anti-tubercular therapy empirically. In addition, non-response of NTM to ATT may be wrongly attributed to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.