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Prolonged life expectancy, life style and environmental changes have caused a changing disease pattern in developed countries towards an increase of degenerative and autoimmune diseases. Stem cells have become a promising tool for their treatment by promoting tissue repair and protection from immune-attack associated damage. Patient-derived autologous stem cells present a safe option for this treatment since these will not induce immune rejection and thus multiple treatments are possible without any risk for allogenic sensitization, which may arise from allogenic stem cell transplantations. Here we report the outcome of treatments with culture expanded human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAdMSCs) of 10 patients with autoimmune associated tissue damage and exhausted therapeutic options, including autoimmune hearing loss, multiple sclerosis, polymyotitis, atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis. For treatment, we developed a standardized culture-expansion protocol for hAdMSCs from minimal amounts of fat tissue, providing sufficient number of cells for repetitive injections. High expansion efficiencies were routinely achieved from autoimmune patients and from elderly donors without measurable loss in safety profile, genetic stability, vitality and differentiation potency, migration and homing characteristics. Although the conclusions that can be drawn from the compassionate use treatments in terms of therapeutic efficacy are only preliminary, the data provide convincing evidence for safety and therapeutic properties of systemically administered AdMSC in human patients with no other treatment options. The authors believe that ex-vivo-expanded autologous AdMSCs provide a promising alternative for treating autoimmune diseases. Further clinical studies are needed that take into account the results obtained from case studies as those presented here.

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In this paper, we analyze t,he delay performance for a Markovian source transported over a wireless channel with timevarying error charact.erist.ics.To improve the reliability of the channel, the end points of the wireless link implement a selective-repeat (SR) ARQ error control protocol. We provide an approximate discrete-time analysis of the endto-end mean packet delay, which consists of transport and resequencing delays. The transport delay, in turn, consists of queueing, transmission/retransmission, and propagation delays. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis accommodates the inherent autocorrelations in both the input traffic and the channel state. Our approximation of the mean transport, delay is based on decoupling the dependence of the queueing behavior from the past channel conditions. The exact probability generating function (PGF) of the queue length under ideal SR ARQ is obtained and is combined with the retransmission delay to obtain the mean transport delay. For the resequencing delay, our analysis is performed under heavy-traffic assumptions, hence providing an upper bound on the act.ual mean resequencing delay. Numerical results and simulations indicate that our approximate analysis is sufficiently accurate for a wide range of parameter values.

(QoS) guarantees over wireless links requires thorough understanding and quanti cation of the interactions among the tra c source, the wireless channel, and the underlying link-layer error control mechanisms. In this paper, we account for such interactions in an analytical model that we use to investigate the delay distribution and the packet discard rate over a wireless link. In contrast to previous studies, our analysis accommodates the inherent autocorrelations in both the trafc source as well as the channel error characteristics. An on/o uid process is used to model the arrival of packets at the transmitter. These packets are temporarily stored in a FIFO bu er before being transmitted over a channel with a time-varying and autocorrelated service rate. Using uid analysis, we rst derive the distribution for the queueing delay at the transmitter. As part of this analysis, we solve a fundamental uid problem, namely, the probability distribution for the workload generated by a 2-state uid source over a xed time interval. We then use the delay analysis to derive the packet discard rate at the receiver (a packet is discarded when the maximum number of retransmissions is reached). A closed-form expression for the e ective bandwidth subject to a delay constraint is provided as a function of the source, channel, and error scheme parameters. This expression enables fast assessment of the bandwidth requirement of real-time tra c over QoS-based wireless networks. Numerical results and simulations are used to verify the adequacy of the analysis and to study the interactions among various system parameters.

In recent years, wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) have emerged as a prominent technique for delivering multimedia information such as still images and videos. Being under the great spotlight of research communities, however, multimedia delivery over resource- constraint WMSNs poses great challenges, especially in terms of energy efficiency and quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees. In this paper, recent developments in techniques for designing highly energy-efficient and QoS-capable WMSNs are surveyed. We first study the unique characteristics and the relevantly imposed requirements of WMSNs. For each requirement we also summarize their existing solutions. Then we review recent research efforts on energy-efficient and QoS-aware communication protocols, including MAC protocols, with a focus on their prioritization and service differentiation mechanisms and disjoint multipath routing protocols.

Patients with large orbital floor fractures or posterior half fractures of the orbit should undergo surgery via a transantral or a combined approach, while patients with trapdoor fractures or anterior half fractures of the orbit should undergo surgery via a transorbital or a combined approach.

BackgroundClonorchis sinensis causes a major food-borne helminthic infection. This species locates in mammalian hepatobiliary ducts, where oxidative stressors and hydrophobic substances are profuse. To adapt to the hostile micromilieu and to ensure its long-term survival, the parasite continuously produces a diverse repertoire of antioxidant enzymes including several species of glutathione transferases (GSTs). Helminth GSTs play pertinent roles during sequestration of harmful xenobiotics since most helminths lack the cytochrome P-450 detoxifying enzyme.MethodsWe isolated and analyzed the biochemical properties of two omega-class GSTs of C. sinensis (CsGSTo1 and CsGSTo2). We observed spatiotemporal expression patterns in accordance with the maturation of the worm’s reproductive system. Possible biological protective roles of CsGSTos in these organs under oxidative stress were investigated.ResultsThe full-length cDNAs of CsGSTo1 and 2 constituted 965 bp and 1,061 bp with open reading frames of 737 bp (246 amino acids) and 669 bp (223 amino acids). They harbored characteristic N-terminal thioredoxin-like and C-terminal α-helical domains. A cysteine residue, which constituted omega-class specific active site, and the glutathione-binding amino acids, were recognized in appropriate positions. They shared 44 % sequence identity with each other and 14.8–44.8 % with orthologues/homologues from other organisms. Bacterially expressed recombinant proteins (rCsGSTo1 and 2) exhibited dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and thioltransferase activities. DHAR activity was higher than thioltransferase activity. They showed weak canonical GST activity toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene. S-hexylglutathione potently and competitively inhibited the active-site at nanomolar concentrations (0.63 and 0.58 nM for rCsGSTo1 and 2). Interestingly, rCsGSTos exhibited high enzyme activity toward mu- and theta-class GST specific substrate, 4-nitrobenzyl chloride. Expression of CsGSTo transcripts and proteins increased beginning in 2-week-old juveniles and reached their highest levels in 4-week-old adults. The proteins were mainly expressed in the elements of the reproductive system, such as vitelline follicles, testes, seminal receptacle, sperm and eggs. Oxidative stressors induced upregulated expression of CsGSTos in these organs. Regardless of oxidative stresses, CsGSTos continued to be highly expressed in eggs. CsGSTo1 or 2 overexpressing bacteria demonstrated high resistance under oxidative killing.ConclusionsCsGSTos might be critically involved in protection of the reproductive system during maturation of C. sinensis worms and in response to oxidative conditions, thereby contributing to maintenance of parasite fecundity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1622-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.