PET/CT underestimates locoregional lymph node staging in large primary breast cancer patients. PET/CT is a valuable tool to discard unsuspected extra-axillary lymph nodes and distant metastases.

Objective. Giant cell arteritis (GCA) may involve the aorta. Retrospective studies have demonstrated a higher prevalence of aortic aneurysm among patients with GCA compared with the general population. We investigated the prevalence of aortic aneurysm in a cohort of patients with biopsy-proven GCA using a defined protocol and assessed whether persisting low-grade disease activity is associated with higher risk of developing aortic aneurysm. Methods. Fifty-four patients with GCA (14 men and 40 women) were cross-sectionally evaluated after a median followup of 5.4 years (range 4.0 -10.5 years). The screening protocol included a chest radiograph, abdominal ultrasonography scan, and computed tomography scan when aortic aneurysm was suspected or changes with respect to the baseline chest radiograph were observed. Clinical and laboratory data, corticosteroid requirements, and relapses were prospectively recorded. Results. Twelve patients (22.2%) had significant aortic structural damage (aneurysm/dilatation), 5 of them candidates for surgical repair. Aortic aneurysm/dilatation was more frequent among men (50%) than women (12.5%; relative risk 3.5, 95% confidence interval 1.53-8.01, P ‫؍‬ 0.007). At the time of screening, patients with aneurysm/dilatation had lower serum acute-phase reactants, lower relapse rate, and needed shorter periods to withdraw prednisone than patients without aortic structural damage. Conclusion. There is a substantial risk of developing aortic aneurysm/dilatation among patients with GCA. Our data do not support that aneurysm formation mainly results from persistent detectable disease activity. Additional factors including characteristics of the initial injury or the target tissue may also determine susceptibility to aortic aneurysm/ dilatation.

This study demonstrates the utility of periostin in phenotyping severe asthma. Periostin levels in sputum are associated with persistent airflow limitation in asthma patients with airway eosinophilia despite treatment with high-dose inhaled corticosteroids.

Our data show that miRNAs profile in eosinophils can be used as asthma diagnosis biomarker in serum and that this profile is able to rank asthma severity.

We analysed patients with allergic or digestive symptoms after seafood ingestion in order to assess a correct diet in Anisakis simplex sensitised individuals. A total of 120 patients who suffered allergic and/or digestive symptoms after marine food ingestion were studied. We performed skin prick tests for A. simplex and seafood, total serum and specific serum immunoglobulin E to A. simplex in the acute stage and 1 month later. A gastroscopy was carried out to find larvae in those patients with persistent abdominal pain. A challenge with non-infective larvae was performed to assess a correct diet. Some 96 patients were sensitised to A. simplex. Gastroscopy was performed in 47 and we detected larvae in 24. We compared symptoms, skin tests, total and specific IgE and the latency of appearance of symptoms in patients positive for Anisakis larvae, patients without larvae at gastroscopy and patients without digestive symptoms. There was no difference among the groups. We challenged 22 patients with frozen A. simplex larvae. After allowing deep-frozen seafood in the diet for more than 2 years, no patient suffered a reaction. At this time, we allowed all our patients well-frozen seafood without any allergic reaction occurring. Allergic symptoms are the most frequent manifestation of A. simplex parasitism. We could not find any patient allergic to the thermostable proteins of parasite.

SUMMARYProtein phosphorylation is a key molecular switch used to transmit information in biological signalling networks. The output of these signalling circuits is governed by the counteracting activities of protein kinases and phosphatases that determine the direction of the switch. Whereas many kinases have been functionally characterized, it has been difficult to ascribe precise cellular roles to plant phosphatases, which are encoded by enlarged gene families that may provide a high degree of genetic redundancy. In this work we have analysed the role in planta of catalytic subunits of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a family encoded by five genes in Arabidopsis. Our results indicate that the two members of subfamily II, PP2A-C3 and PP2A-C4, have redundant functions in controlling embryo patterning and root development, processes that depend on auxin fluxes. Moreover, polarity of the auxin efflux carrier PIN1 and auxin distribution, determined with the DR5 pro :GFP proxy, are affected by mutations in PP2A-C3 and PP2A-C4. Previous characterization of mutants in putative PP2A regulatory subunits had established a link between this class of phosphatases and PIN dephosphorylation and subcellular distribution. Building on those findings, the results presented here suggest that PP2A-C3 and PP2A-C4 catalyse this reaction and contribute critically to the establishment of auxin gradients for proper plant development.

18F-FDG PET/CT can predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy at an early stage.

Eosinophils are able to secrete exosomes that have an undefined role in asthma pathogenesis. We hypothesized that exosomes released by eosinophils autoregulate and promote eosinophil function. Eosinophils of patients with asthma ( = 58) and healthy volunteers ( = 16) were purified from peripheral blood, and exosomes were isolated and quantified from eosinophils of the asthmatic and healthy populations. Apoptosis, adhesion, adhesion molecules expression, and migration assays were performed with eosinophils in the presence or absence of exosomes from healthy and asthmatic individuals. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were evaluated by flow cytometry with an intracellular fluorescent probe and nitric oxide (NO) and a colorimetric kit. In addition, exosomal proteins were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Eosinophil-derived exosomes induced an increase in NO and ROS production on eosinophils. Moreover, exosomes could act as a chemotactic factor on eosinophils, and they produced an increase in cell adhesion, giving rise to a specific augmentation of adhesion molecules, such as ICAM-1 and integrin α2. Protein content between exosomes from healthy and asthmatic individuals seems to be similar in both groups. In conclusion, we found that exosomes from the eosinophils of patients with asthma could modify several specific eosinophil functions related to asthma pathogenesis and that they could contribute fundamentally to the development and maintenance of asthma.