IFNγ suppresses the expression of GFI1 and thereby inhibits Th2 cell proliferation.

While IFNγ is a well-known cytokine that actively promotes the type I immune response, it is also known to suppress the type II response by inhibiting the differentiation and proliferation of Th2 cells. However, the mechanism by which IFNγ suppresses Th2 cell proliferation is still not fully understood. We found that IFNγ decreases the expression of growth factor independent-1 transcriptional repressor (GFI1) in Th2 cells, resulting in the inhibition of Th2 cell proliferation. The deletion of the Gfi1 gene in Th2 cells results in the failure of their proliferation, accompanied by an impaired cell cycle progression. In contrast, the enforced expression of GFI1 restores the defective Th2 cell proliferation, even in the presence of IFNγ. These results demonstrate that GFI1 is a key molecule in the IFNγ-mediated inhibition of Th2 cell proliferation.

Addition of olive (olea europaea) leaf extract as a source of natural antioxidant in mutton meatball stored at refrigeration temperature.

This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of using different levels of olive (Olea europaea) leaf extract on fresh and preserved mutton meatballs. Meatballs were divided into four different groups and treated as T0 (0), T1 (0.1), T2 (0.2) and T3 (0.3%), respectively based on olive leaf extract supplementation. Days of intervals of experiment were 0, 5, 10 days. Samples were preserved at 4˚C for up to 10 days. Different types of analysis such as, sensory (color, flavor, juiciness and overall acceptability), proximate composition (CP %), physicochemical (pH), biochemical (POV, FFA and TBARS) and microbiological (TVC, TCC and TYMC) were determined. Color, flavor and acceptability reduced significantly (p < 0.05) with the increase of the storage periods. Values of the studied quality parameters in all the treatment groups differed significantly (p < 0.05). Based on our findings 0.3% olive leaf extract is found suitable to add in mutton meatballs as a source of natural antioxidant.

Effect of multileaf collimator leaf width on physical dose distributions in the treatment of CNS and head and neck neoplasms with intensity modulated radiation therapy.

The purpose of this work is to examine physical radiation dose differences between two multileaf collimator (MLC) leaf widths (5 and 10 mm) in the treatment of CNS and head and neck neoplasms with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Three clinical patients with CNS tumors were planned with two different MLC leaf sizes, 5 and 10 mm, representing Varian-120 and Varian-80 Millennium multileaf collimators, respectively. Two sets of IMRT treatment plans were developed. The goal of the first set was radiation dose conformality in three dimensions. The goal for the second set was organ avoidance of a nearby critical structure while maintaining adequate coverage of the target volume. Treatment planning utilized the CadPlan/Helios system (Varian Medical Systems, Milpitas CA) for dynamic MLC treatment delivery. All beam parameters and optimization (cost function) parameters were identical for the 5 and 10 mm plans. For all cases the number of beams, gantry positions, and table positions were taken from clinically treated three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy plans. Conformality was measured by the ratio of the planning isodose volume to the target volume. Organ avoidance was measured by the volume of the critical structure receiving greater than 90% of the prescription dose (V(90)). For three patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (T2-T4 N0-N2c M0) 5 and 10 mm leaf widths were compared for parotid preservation utilizing nine coplanar equally spaced beams delivering a simultaneous integrated boost. Because modest differences in physical dose to the parotid were detected, a NTCP model based upon the clinical parameters of Eisbruch et al. was then used for comparisons. The conformality improved in all three CNS cases for the 5 mm plans compared to the 10 mm plans. For the organ avoidance plans, V(90) also improved in two of the three cases when the 5 mm leaf width was utilized for IMRT treatment delivery. In the third case, both the 5 and 10 mm plans were able to spare the critical structure with none of the structure receiving more than 90% of the prescription dose, but in the moderate dose range, less dose was delivered to the critical structure with the 5 mm plan. For the head and neck cases both the 5 and 10 x 2.5 mm beamlets dMLC sliding window techniques spared the contralateral parotid gland while maintaining target volume coverage. The mean parotid dose was modestly lower with the smaller beamlet size (21.04 Gy v 22.36 Gy). The resulting average NTCP values were 13.72% for 10 mm dMLC and 8.24% for 5 mm dMLC. In conclusion, five mm leaf width results in an improvement in physical dose distribution over 10 mm leaf width that may be clinically relevant in some cases. These differences may be most pronounced for single fraction radiosurgery or in cases where the tolerance of the sensitive organ is less than or close to the target volume prescription.