Induced expression of Toll-like receptor 9 in peritubular capillary endothelium correlates with the progression of tubulointerstitial lesions in autoimmune disease-prone mice.

BACKGROUND: Toll-like receptor (Tlr) 9 is capable of recognizing exogenous and/or endogenous nucleic acids and plays a crucial role in innate and adaptive immunity. Recently, we showed that Tlr9 is overexpressed in podocytes, a component of the blood-urine barrier (BUB), in glomeruli of autoimmune glomerulonephritis (AGN) model mice. This study investigated the activation of peritubular capillary (PTC) endothelial cells (ECs), a component of the BUB in the tubulointerstitium, through overexpressing Tlr9, and the subsequent development of tubulointerstitial lesions (TILs) in AGN model mice. METHODS: Lupus-prone BXSB/MpJ-Yaa (Yaa) and BXSB/MpJ (BXSB) mice were used as an AGN model and control, respectively. In addition to histopathological and ultrastructural techniques, protein and mRNA levels were also evaluated. The relationship between Tlr9 and TIL indices was analyzed by statistical correlation analysis. RESULTS: Yaa mice developed TILs and showed strong Tlr9 mRNA expression in PTC ECs at 24 weeks (wks) of age. However, BXSB mice showed no TIL but faint expression of Tlr9 mRNA at 8 and 24 wks of age. Tlr9 protein localization on PTC was almost absent in BXSB mice at both ages but intense expression was found in Yaa mice only at 24 wks of age. Relative mRNA expression of Tlr9 and its putative downstream cytokines, including interleukin 1 beta ( Il1b), Il6, interferon gamma ( Ifng), and tumor necrosis factor alpha ( Tnf) was markedly increased in isolated tubulointerstitium from Yaa mice at 24 wks of age. Furthermore, electron microscopy examination revealed PTC injury and TIL in Yaa mice at 24 wks. The expression level of Tlr9 in the tubulointerstitium was correlated with inflammatory cells in TILs, injured PTC, Ilb and Tnf expression, and damaged tubules ( P < 0.05 and 0.01). CONCLUSION: Induced expression of Tlr9 in ECs correlates with PTC injury and the development of TILs in lupus-prone AGN model mice.

Multi-slice ultrasound image calibration of an intelligent skin-marker for soft tissue artefact compensation.

In this paper, a novel multi-slice ultrasound (US) image calibration of an intelligent skin-marker used for soft tissue artefact compensation is proposed to align and orient image slices in an exact H-shaped pattern. Multi-slice calibration is complex, however, in the proposed method, a phantom based visual alignment followed by transform parameters estimation greatly reduces the complexity and provides sufficient accuracy. In this approach, the Hough Transform (HT) is used to further enhance the image features which originate from the image feature enhancing elements integrated into the physical phantom model, thus reducing feature detection uncertainty. In this framework, slice by slice image alignment and calibration are carried out and this provides manual ease and convenience.

Mobilization of immunoglobulin (Ig)-containing plasma cells in Harderian gland, cecal tonsil and trachea of broilers vaccinated with Newcastle Disease Vaccine.

Immunohistochemical studies of Harderian gland, cecal tonsil and trachea of various groups of broiler chickens and the response of Baby Chick Ranikhet Disease Vaccines (BCRDV) on the mobilization of Igs-cells during postnatal development of organs was investigated in the Dept. of Anatomy and Histology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. In this study twelve chickens were grouped into vaccinated broilers (D14 and D28) which had received vaccines first at D3 of age and a booster dose given at D13; and non-vaccinated broilers (D1) which had not been vaccinated. In this study, it was observed that the frequency and distribution of Igs-positive cells were higher at D14 and at D28 rather than D1. Among Igs-positive cells, the IgG-positive cells were significantly higher than IgM and IgA-positive cells in the Harderian gland of D14 and D28 groups of chickens, however, in day-old chickens, the frequency of IgM-positive cells in this gland were greater. In the cecal tonsil, the frequency and distribution of IgG-positive cells were significantly higher than IgA- and IgM-positive cells both at D14 and D28 ages of chicken. On the other hand, in day-old chickens, the frequency and distribution of IgA-positive cells were insignificantly greater, followed by IgM and IgG-positive cells. In the trachea, few immunoglobulin-containing plasma cells were distributed in the subepithelial layer. IgM-positive cells were higher followed by IgG and IgA-positive cells in the trachea in D14 and D28 groups of chickens. In the same organ, IgG-positive plasma cells were greater than IgA and IgM-positive cells at one-day old. When the data for Harderian gland, cecal tonsil and trachea were compared statistically, it was observed that Igs-positive cells were statistically more common in cecal tonsils in day old chickens, and with the advancement of age, Igs-positive cells were found more in the Harderian gland. In conclusion, with the advancement of age in chickens the Harderian gland uptake is a function of the cecal tonsil due to its functional atrophy.

Visceral leishmaniasis in Bangladesh: the value of DAT as a diagnostic tool.

The direct agglutination test (DAT) was performed on 480 serum samples from suspected cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in different parts of Bangladesh. Significant titres (> or = 1:3200) were found in 257 sera (53.5%). All patients with positive bone-marrow aspirates also had significant DAT titres. The male:female seroprevalence ratio was 2:1 and the age-group 0-20 years was the most affected. The DAT proved a simple, economical and reliable diagnostic test for VL.