Background: In vitro studies suggest that the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-ĸB) is implicated in the transduction of proinflammatory signals in endometriosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of NF-ĸB and the processes regulated by NF-ĸB in the initial development of endometriotic lesionsin vivo.Methods: Endometriosis was induced in nude mice by intraperitoneal injection of fluorescent-labeled menstrual endometrium. Two NF-ĸB inhibitors (BAY 11-7085 and SN-50) were injected intraperitoneally on days 0, 2 and 4 after endometriosis induction, and endometriotic lesions were recovered on day 5. Number, mass, fluorimetry and surface (morphometry) of endometriotic lesions were quantified. NF-ĸB activation, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 expression, cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated by immunohistochemical analyses and the TUNEL method. Results: Both NF-ĸB inhibitors induced a significant reduction in lesion development compared to control mice. NF-ĸB activation and ICAM-1 expression of endometriotic lesions were significantly reduced in treated mice, and cell proliferation was significantly reduced in BAY 11-7085-treated mice. Both inhibitors produced a significant increase in apoptosis of endometriotic lesions, as assessed by active caspase-3 immunostaining and the TUNEL method. Conclusion: This study demonstrates, for the first time, that the NF-ĸB pathway is implicated in the development of endometriotic lesions in vivo and that NF-ĸB inhibition reduces ICAM-1 expression and cell proliferation, but increases apoptosis of endometriotic lesions, diminishing the initial development of endometriosis in an animal model.

No abstract

Our study shows that Verneuil's disease is associated with a major vitamin D deficiency, correlated with the disease severity. It suggests that vitamin D could significantly improve the inflammatory nodules, probably by stimulating the skin innate immunity. A larger randomized study is needed to confirm these findings.

No abstract

Brain blood barrier breakdown as assessed by contrast-enhanced (CE) T1-weighted MR imaging is currently the standard radiological marker of inflammatory activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of an alternative model assessing the inflammatory activity of MS lesions by texture analysis of T2-weighted MR images. Twenty-one patients with definite MS were examined on the same 3.0T MR system by T2-weighted, FLAIR, diffusion-weighted and CE-T1 sequences. Lesions and mirrored contralateral areas within the normal appearing white matter (NAWM) were characterized by texture parameters computed from the gray level co-occurrence and run length matrices, and by the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Statistical differences between MS lesions and NAWM were analyzed. ROC analysis and leave-one-out cross-validation were performed to evaluate the performance of individual parameters, and multi-parametric models using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), partial least squares (PLS) and logistic regression (LR) in the identification of CE lesions. ADC and all but one texture parameter were significantly different within white matter lesions compared to within NAWM (p < 0.0167). Using LDA, an 8-texture parameter model identified CE lesions with a sensitivity Se = 70% and a specificity Sp = 76%. Using LR, a 10-texture parameter model performed better with Se = 86% / Sp = 84%. Using PLS, a 6-texture parameter model achieved the highest accuracy with Se = 88% / Sp = 81%. Texture parameter from T2-weighted images can assess brain inflammatory activity with sufficient accuracy to be considered as a potential alternative to enhancement on CE T1-weighted images.

Involuntary commitment is mainly due to the inability of the mental health care system to provide more demanding patients with alternative forms of care.

No abstract

The present study relates to Polymers Additive Manufacturing (PAM) traditionally used for rapid prototyping operations. The use of PAM components as functional parts is still marginal compared to injection molded components. This is due to the uncertainty on their mechanical properties and to the present knowledge on PAM products. A new additive manufacturing technology has been integrated in the Freeformer-Arburg machine. It was inspired by injection molding technology and creates plastic parts using layers built up from tiny droplets of polymer. In this work, the mechanical characterization of thermoplastic polymer parts obtained by Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF) is studied. Additionally the mechanical properties of polymer specimens obtained by injection molding as a conventional process are studied in order to evaluate the influence of the manufacturing process on the parts mechanical behavior. The tensile mechanical properties are evaluated by varying some manufacturing parameters, such as the printing path. Microstructural analyses have been performed to better understand the relationship between the manufacturing process and the final mechanical properties.