(c) 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“Objective We aimed to investigate the incidence and clinical characteristics of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) pulmonary disease as a complication of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Methods We conducted a retrospective study of 10 cases (5.6%) complicated by NTM pulmonary disease among 180 CTEPH patients. Results Isolated species of avium (n=5), kansasii (n=2), intracellulare (n=1), abscessus (n=1) and fortuitum (n=1) were detected. NTM-infected lesions were observed in 33 of JQ1 research buy 180 (18.3%) lung segments obtained from the 10 patients, and complete obstruction due to chronic pulmonary thromboembolism was
detected in 65 of the 180 segmental pulmonary arteries (36.1%).
The NTM-infected segments in the CTEPH patients were significantly associated with obstructed rather than unobstructed pulmonary artery segments [25 of 65 (38.5%) vs. 8 of 115 (6.9%), p smaller than 0.01]. Cavitary, nodular, ectatic and ground-glass lesions were seen in 14, 22, seven and four of the 180 segments, respectively. Thirteen of the 14 cavitary (92.9%) lesions were located in non-perfused segments. Five patients with NTM disease underwent pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA). Of the 18 assessable NTM-infected segments in six NTM-treated patients, 17 were located in non-perfused segments and one was located in a previously perfused segment. All NTM-infected segments improved IWR-1-endo among three segments reperfused with PEA. In contrast, only eight Staurosporine concentration (57.1%) NTM-infected segments improved among 14 continuously
non-perfused segments. A lower body mass index was found to be a significant risk factor for NTM disease in the CTEPH patients. Conclusion This is the first report to document NTM-disease complications in patients with CTEPH. Reperfusion in cases of NTM lesions may improve the response to NTM drug therapy.”
“In plants, cell morphogenesis is dependent on intercellular auxin accumulation. The polar subcellular localization of the PIN-FORMED (PIN) protein is crucial for this process. Previous studies have shown that the protein kinase PINOID (PID) and protein phosphatase6-type phosphatase holoenzyme regulate the phosphorylation status of PIN1 in root tips and shoot apices. Here, we show that a type-one protein phosphatase, TOPP4, is essential for the formation of interdigitated pavement cell (PC) pattern in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaf. The dominant-negative mutant topp4-1 showed severely inhibited interdigitated PC growth. Expression of topp4-1 gene in wild-type plants recapitulated the PC defects in the mutant. Genetic analyses suggested that TOPP4 and PIN1 likely function in the same pathway to regulate PC morphogenesis.