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Case Reports 2015; 36(1): 96-99 PubMed PMID: 25789592 Citation  Keywords:  Aged, Exercise Therapy:methods, Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic:physiopathology, Humans, Male, Physical Exertion:physiology,.   

: A Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) - Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Running Anomaly. Imagine you have been disabled with ME/CFS's cluster of symptoms for 19 years. Yet, this morning you just ran an easy 10K with no flare up of your exercise intolerance symptoms during the run or post-exertional malaise after the run. Then later in the day you go browsing for books and after 30 minutes or so your exercise intolerance and post-exertional malaise symptoms flare up. You experience a wave of exhaustion, achy muscles and additional cognitive fog, all of which carry into the next day. To me, this is a confusing anomaly that needs an explanation....

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Case Reports 2015; 36(1): 24-27 PubMed PMID: 25789591 Citation  Keywords:  Chelation Therapy:methods, Humans, Iron:metabolism, Iron Chelating Agents:therapeutic use, Male, Middle Aged, Parkinson Disease:drug therapy, Treatment Outcome,.   

: In this case presentation, a man with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease was treated with Chelation Therapy against iron without iron serum level correlation. The patient, who suffered from motor and non-motor symptoms of the disease, showed an improved condition after the Therapy. This clinical test was evaluated with UPDRS III score. The rationale and the limits of the Therapy are discussed. This case suggests that iron-dependent oxidative stress could represent a promising therapy for this dramatic disease; the necessity to deeply study the iron metabolism in neuro-degeneration appears really significant....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(1): 48-52 PubMed PMID: 25789588 Citation  Keywords:  Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Comorbidity, Female, Goiter:classification, Humans, Iodine:deficiency, Male, Middle Aged, Pakistan:epidemiology, Retrospective Studies, Thyroid Neoplasms:epidemiology, Thyroidectomy:statistics & numerical data, Thyroiditis:.   

OBJECTIVES: To identify the histopathological patterns of goiter in thyroidectomy specimens and their frequency in relation to age and gender of the patients.

METHODOLOGY: We present a retrospective data of 624 thyroidectomy specimens diagnosed over a period of six year (2007-2012) at the Department of Pathology, Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

RESULTS: A total of 624 consecutive thyroidectomy specimens were selected. Patient's age ranges from 11-89 years, 541 females and 83 males. There were 512 (82%) non-neoplastic lesions, which includes; 475 (76.1%) multi-nodular goiter (MNG), 16 (2.6%) Hashimoto thyroiditis, 11 (1.8%) colloid goiter, 4 (0.6%) toxic goiter, 2 (0.3%) chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, 2 (0.3%) tuberculous thyroiditis and 2 (0.3%) miscellaneous. From 112 (18%) neoplastic lesions, 43 (6.9%) were adenomas (41 females and 2 males) and 69 (11.0%) were carcinomas (58 females and 11 males). Peak age for thyroid malignancy was 3rd to 4th decades. The histological subtypes of thyroid carcinomas includes, 35 (5.6%) follicular variant of papillary carcinoma (FVPC), 15 (2.5%) well-differentiated tumor of uncertain malignant potential (WDT-UMP), 6 (1%) medullary carcinomas, 6 (1%) papillary carcinomas, 3 (0.5%) anaplastic carcinomas, 2 (0.3%) follicular carcinomas and 2 (0.3%) other carcinomas. Twenty-nine (4.6%) neoplastic lesions were associated with MNG, includes; 2 (3.5%) follicular adenomas, 3 (0.5%) WDT-UMP and 4 (0.6%) FVPC.

CONCLUSIONS: MNG is common and FVPC is the common thyroid cancer seen in females. The overall frequency of thyroid cancer is 11%. Follicular adenoma and FVPC appears to be associated with long standing MNG of iodine deficiency....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(1): 59-66 PubMed PMID: 25789586 Citation  Keywords:  Anilides:pharmacology, Cells, Cultured, Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells:drug effects, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents:pharmacology, Insulin:pharmacology, PPAR gamma:agonists, Receptors, Chemokine:metabolism, Thiazolidinediones:pharmacology,.   

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of different insulin concentrations on the activity of vascular endothelial cells (VECs), and the role of PPARγ activator rosiglitazone (RGZ) on the expression of the chemerin receptor, ChemR23, in insulin-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

METHODS: Cell viability was determined in HUVECs treated with different insulin concentrations. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect ChemR23 expression in insulin-treated HUVECs. Western blot assays were used to evaluate ChemR23 and PPARγ protein expression in insulin-treated HUVECs after pretreatment with PPARγ activator (RGZ) or inhibitor (GW9662).

RESULTS: High insulin concentrations significantly inhibited HUVEC cell viability compared to low insulin concentrations, and this inhibition was attenuated by pretreatment with RGZ. High concentrations of insulin caused a significant upregulation of ChemR23 and a significant downregulation of PPARγ. These effects were attenuated by RGZ pretreatment, while PPARγ antagonist, GW9662 reversed this attenuation.

CONCLUSION: ChemR23 upregulation may play a role in VEC damage caused by high concentrations of insulin. The protective effect of PPARγ activation in VECs may be mediated via ChemR23 downregulation....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(1): 80-83 PubMed PMID: 25789585 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Antarctic Regions, Arterial Pressure:physiology, Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory, Circadian Rhythm, Cold Climate, Czech Republic, Expeditions, Female, Humans, Male,.   

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate potential changes in arterial blood pressure (ABP) and heart rate (HR) during a 2-month stay in Antarctica, using chronobiological analysis.

METHODS: An observational study performed at Mendel research base, Antarctica, during 2011 and 2012. The studied group consisted of 24 participants of the 5th and 6th Czech Antarctic Scientific Expeditions. Three series of 24-hour ABP monitoring were performed, of these two in Antarctica and one in the Czech Republic. Chronobiological analyses of the data were performed (Halberg Chronobiology Center, Minnesota) using population-mean cosinor. The values of MESOR (Midline Estimating Statistic Of Rhythm), double amplitude and the acrophase were obtained for SBP (Systolic Blood Pressure), DBP (Diastolic Blood Pressure) and HR. These rhythm characteristics were compared between the two locations by parameter tests and by the paired t-test.

RESULTS: On the average, the MESORs of SBP, DBP and HR were significantly higher in Antarctica than in the Czech Republic, as were the double amplitudes of the 12-hour component of SBP and DBP. High prevalence of CHAT (Circadian Hyper-Amplitude-Tension) was detected in Antarctica (8/24 = 33%); only 2 persons had CHAT in the Czech Republic (χ²=3.945, p=0.047).

CONCLUSIONS: A prolonged stay in Antarctica clearly affected certain chronobiological parameters of ABP and HR.

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Journal Article 2015; 36(1): 7-14 PubMed PMID: 25789584 Citation  Keywords:  A Kinase Anchor Proteins:physiology, Animals, Humans, Signal Transduction:physiology,.   

OBJECTIVE: Kinase Anchoring Proteins (AKAPs) have evolved to regulate the spatial and temporal organization of cellular signal transduction. As a typical member, AKAP5 which consisting of three orthologues: bovine AKAP75, rodent AKAP150 and human AKAP79, is the best known model in the anchoring and targeting properties. It is shown that AKAP5 can bind β2-adrenergic receptor, which is a member of GPCR superfamily, and orchestrate the interactions of various protein kinases, protein phosphatases and cytoskeletal element. AKAP5 is originally identified as a component of the postsynaptic density in neurons and plays a vital role in modulating neuronal activities. Subsequently, the AKAP5 complexes are also detected in other tissues and participated in various processes....

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Journal Article 2015; 36(1): 1-6 PubMed PMID: 25789583 Citation  Keywords:  Bibliography as Topic, Biomedical Research:ethics, Depressive Disorder:immunology, Humans, Plagiarism, Publishing:ethics, Review Literature as Topic,.   

: Once original scientific results are published the author has the "intellectual property" and may claim ownership. Discovery credit is one of the most important "rewards" for scientists and thus incorrect credits undermine the reward system of science. Scientists who publish should therefore give proper credit and acknowledge the primary sources. Failure to do so is regarded as "citation negligence", "the disregard syndrome", "citation amnesia", "plagiarism by omission", "bibliographic plagiarism" or "citation plagiarism", and may range from an unconscious or conscious "failure to credit a prior discoverer so as to give an improper impression of priority" to "the appropriation of another person's ideas or results without given proper credit". False discovery credit is considered to be "a menace to honest science", "a serious transgression" or "intellectual theft, be it intentional or not". This paper describes some examples of citation amnesia showing that scientists often fail to credit prior sources and give false discovery credit to other scientists. One example is the association between major depression and activated immuno-inflammatory pathways, a discovery by European groups and published in many papers since 1990. Now, 25 years later, it is commonplace that these theories are credited to secondary American sources whose work in "the last decade", did or did not examine these pathways in major depression. This gives an improper impression of priority of American-based scientists. Here it is proposed that this citation amnesia and plagiarism reinforced the wrong science and had negative effects on the development of immune-inflammatory biomarkers and new immune-related treatments for depression. It is concluded that journal editors should improve their citation standards to guarantee correct assignment of discovery credit for example by demanding a signed pledge from the authors that correct citations to the primary sources were made....

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Journal Article 2014; 35(8): 746-749 PubMed PMID: 25702305 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Case-Control Studies, Depressive Disorder, Major:metabolism, Female, Humans, Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid:metabolism, Male, Saliva:chemistry, Time Factors, Young Adult,.   

OBJECTIVES: Central serotonergic dysfunction is reported in major depressive disorder (MDD). Serotonin is primarily metabolized to 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) and its plasma, urinary or cerebrospinal fluid concentrations were extensively studied in depression. No data is available on salivary 5-HIAA (s5-HIAA) in MDD to date.

METHODS: The basal, non-stimulated s5-HIAA concentration was studied in this cross-sectional case-control study on 20 non-late-life adult, short-illness-duration first-episode, treatment-naïve MDD patients and in 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Depressed patients showed a score in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) higher than 20.

RESULTS: No significant difference in s5-HIAA concentration between patients with MDD and controls was observed. In post hoc analysis significantly lower s5-HIAA was seen in non-melancholic MDD (p=0.026) as related to controls whereas no difference was seen between melancholic MDD patients and controls. The concentration of s5-HIAA was not significantly correlated neither with duration nor the severity of depressive symptoms as measured by the total HAMD-17 score.

CONCLUSION: No difference was observed in baseline s5-HIAA concentration between MDD patients and healthy controls. That observation corroborates with previous MDD studies on 5-HIAA concentrations in bodily fluids where unaltered 5-HIAA concentration is seen in the absence of serotonin-related behaviours including impulsivity, suicidality, and anxiety. Salivary 5-HIAA use remains to be determined....

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