The Genomics Education Partnership offers an inclusive model for undergraduate research experiences incorporated into the academic year science curriculum, with students pooling their work to contribute to international data bases.
In this investigation, we tried to find the incidence and characteristics of tuberculosis (TB) in dialysis patients previously found only in a small number of cases. We collected the cases of newly diagnosed TB patients in Taiwan during 1997. Simultaneously, all dialysis patients were collected and matched with the TB cases to identify the dialysis patients who had also contracted TB. The annual incidence of the dialysis population was 493.4/100,000, 6.9 times that of the general population (71.1/100,000). The annual incidence for the male dialysis population was 573.3, the incidence was 479.2 for the female dialysis population. The incidence for the general population was 97.1 and 43.7/100,000, respectively. Although the 1-year mortality rate due to TB (1.7 vs. 1.9%, p > 0.05) was similar in both populations, the non-TB mortality was much higher in the dialysis population than that in the general population (25.6 vs. 11.1%, p < 0.05). Finally, the 1-year mortality rate of dialysis patients with TB is 3.3 times higher than that in dialysis patients without TB (27.3 vs. 8.3%, p < 0.05). The findings suggest that uremia modifies the behavior of TB, jeopardizes female and younger dialysis patients, poses a higher risk of extrapulmonary dissemination, and predicts a higher overall mortality.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) promote functional recoveries in pathological experimental models of central nervous system (CNS) and are currently being tested in clinical trials for neurological disorders, but preventive mechanisms of placenta-derived MSCs (PD-MSCs) for Alzheimer's disease are poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the inhibitory effect of PD-MSCs on neuronal cell death and memory impairment in Aβ1–42-infused mice. After intracerebroventrical (ICV) infusion of Aβ1–42 for 14 days, the cognitive function was assessed by the Morris water maze test and passive avoidance test. Our results showed that the transplantation of PD-MSCs into Aβ1–42-infused mice significantly improved cognitive impairment, and behavioral changes attenuated the expression of APP, BACE1, and Aβ, as well as the activity of β-secretase and γ-secretase. In addition, the activation of glia cells and the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were inhibited by the transplantation of PD-MSCs. Furthermore, we also found that PD-MSCs downregulated the release of inflammatory cytokines as well as prevented neuronal cell death and promoted neuronal cell differentiation from neuronal progenitor cells in Aβ1–42-infused mice. These data indicate that PD-MSC mediates neuroprotection by regulating neuronal death, neurogenesis, glia cell activation in hippocampus, and altering cytokine expression, suggesting a close link between the therapeutic effects of MSCs and the damaged CNS in Alzheimer's disease.
High anatomic success and excellent clinical patency can be achieved in the salvage of thrombosed arteriovenous fistulas. Percutaneous restoration of arteriovenous fistulas should be attempted before surgical recreation to optimize outcome in patients undergoing hemodialysis.
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