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Schwannomas are encapsulated tumors arising from Schwann cells of the nerve sheath, and are usually solitary sporadic lesions. The schwannoma of the ilio-hypogastric nerve especially in the retro-petoneal space is very rare. We are reporting a case of the schwannoma of the left ilio-hypagastric nerve over the psoas muscle. The diagnosis was done by ultarsonogrsphy and MRI. The histopathological study confirmed the diagnosis. The tumour was excised through retro-peritoneal approach. By this approach total excision of the tumour with preservation of ilio-hypogastric nerve is possible. Journal of Science Foundation 2019;17(2):71-74

The garments industries which are traditionally operated are facing lots of problems such as low productivity, poor line balancing, high rejection, high defects, unable to achieve lead time. So defects minimization is the first condition of reducing cost and increasing productivity. The work aims to minimize the defect percentage by using DMAIC approach of Six Sigma methodology. The study is carried out in Ananta Apparels Ltd. by using DMAIC methodology of six sigma to minimize the defect rate in sewing section. Five phases of the DMAIC methodology named Define, Measure, Analyze, Improveand Control which indicates some critical defects such as stain, skip stitch, broken stitch, and slip out in the sewing section of Ananta Apparels Ltd. We applied various types of six sigma tools in different phases. The outcome of this study is very significant to implement in the sewing section of the apparel industry.

IntroductionCOVID 19 is an unknown virus affecting mankind creating a deadly experience to all. It is true for Bangladesh also. So the objectives of the present study is to find the clinicopathological features and outcome of COVID patients admitted in three COVID dedicated hospitals of Chittagong, Bnagladesh.MethodsThis was an observational study where a total of 209 patients admitted in three COVID dedicated hospital were recruited. Clinicopathological data were recorded and patients were under observation till discharge and thus outcome were recorded. Prior consent was taken from the patients and ethical clearance was also taken. Data was compiled and analyzed by SPSS-20.ResultsAmong 209 patients most of them were male 139(66.5%) and male to female ratio was 1.98:1. Age group distribution revealed more were aggregated in age group 41-50 years 36(17.2%), 51-60 years 54(25.8%) and 61-70 years 57(27.3%). Among all 92(44%) patients were RT-PCR positive and 117(56%) were probable cases. Fever was present in 195(93.3%) cases, cough in 180(86.1%), respiratory distress in 105(50.2%) anosmia in 123(58.8%), aguesea in 112 (53.58%) and lethargy was present in 143(68.42%). Chest X-ray findings revealed 73(34.9%) had bilateral patchy opacities, 20(9.6%) had unilateral opacities 65(31.1%) had consolidations, 6(2.9%) had ground glass opacities and 2(1.0%) had pleural effusion. Supplemental O2 was given in 173(82.8%) patients, Favipiravir in 59(28.2%), Remdisivir in 111(53.1%), Methylprednisolone in 87(41.6%), Dexamethasone in 93(44.5%), Antibiotics in 204(97.60%), Toccilizumab in 34(16.3%), plasma in 18(8.6%) and LMWH in 200(95.7%) patients. Regarding outcome of the COVID patients admitted, 85(92.4%) patients improved, 6(6.5%) died who were RT-PCR positive and 107(91.15%) improved, 9(7.7%) died who were probable cases. Total death rate was 7.1%.ConclusionPresent study findings were some early activities among COVID patients in the years 2020. Male were more affected and middle age group people were the most victims.

Manufacture of red blood cells (RBCs) from progenitors has been proposed as a method to reduce reliance on donors. Such a process would need to be extremely efficient for economic viability given a relatively low value product and high 2E12 cell dose. Therefore, the aim of these studies was to define the productivity of an industry standard stirred-tank bioreactor and determine engineering limitations of commercial RBC production. Cord blood derived CD34+ cells were cultured under erythroid differentiation conditions in a stirred micro-bioreactor (ambr™). Enucleated cells of 80% purity could be created under optimal physical conditions: pH 7.5, 50% oxygen, without gas-sparging (which damaged cells) and with mechanical agitation (which directly increased enucleation). O2 consumption was low (~5x10(-8) µg/cell.hr) theoretically enabling erythroblast densities in excess of 5x10(8) /ml in commercial bioreactors and sub-10 L/unit production volumes. The bioreactor process achieved a 24% and 42% reduction in media volume and culture time respectively relative to unoptimized flask processing. However, media exchange limited productivity to 1 unit of erythroblasts per 500 L of media. Systematic replacement of media constituents, as well as screening for inhibitory levels of ammonia, lactate and key cytokines did not identify a reason for this limitation. We conclude that the properties of erythroblasts are such that the conventional constraints on cell manufacturing efficiency, such as mass transfer and metabolic demand, should not prevent high intensity production; furthermore this could be achieved in industry standard equipment. However, identification and removal of an inhibitory mediator is required to enable these economies to be realized.

UNLABELLED: This is a phase II clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of intravenous vaccination with mature autologous dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed ex vivo with a liver tumor cell line lysate (HepG2) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC is an attractive target for immunotherapy as evidenced by an active recruitment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes that are capable of lysing autologous tumor cells in ex vivo studies. DCs are the most potent antigen-presenting cells, with the capacity to take up, process, and present tumor antigens to T cells and stimulate an immune response, thus providing a rational platform for vaccine development. Thirty-five patients with advanced HCC and not suitable for radical or loco-regional therapies received a maximum of six DC vaccinations each at 3-week intervals. In total, 134 DC infusions were administered with no significant toxicity and no evidence of autoimmunity. Twenty-five patients who received at least three vaccine infusions were assessed clinically for response. The radiologically determined disease control rate (combined partial response and stable disease >or=3 months) was 28%. In 17 patients the baseline serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was >or= 1,000 ng/mL; in four of these patients, it fell to

Solid tumors are composed of the malignant cell itself (most commonly a carcinoma) and supporting cells that comprise the stroma. Significant stromal components include the extracellular matrix, supporting fibroblasts, vessels comprised of endothelium, pericytes and in some cases vascular smooth muscle, lymphatics and usually a major leukocyte infiltration. Indeed, macrophages may constitute up to 50% of the viable cells within the tumor. For many years, researchers have concentrated almost exclusively on the malignant carcinoma and looked for ways to either selectively kill or restrict its growth. In recent years the frustrating lack of advances in cytotoxic cancer therapy provoked a search for more novel strategies and foremost amongst these were anti-angiogenesis and vascular targeting. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how the stroma is now being pursued as an anti-cancer target. The article will briefly touch on anti-angiogenics that are now entering the clinic but concentrate on recent studies looking at vascular disrupting agents, stromal tumor fibroblasts and macrophages. Target identification is illustrated by the search for tumor endothelial markers. Finally, we draw attention to efforts to develop a cancer vaccine. The genetic instability and variation found in carcinoma cells made vaccination in the past a near impossibility. In contrast, genetically stable tumor endothelium with its unique accessibility to blood borne agents, together with recent advances in immunotherapy means that the possibility of a cancer vaccine now takes on a reality not previously recognised.

The two clinical scale devices currently available for CD34+ cell selection from peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) apheresis products, the CliniMACS and the Isolex 300i, were compared directly by pooling and splitting two PBSC harvests collected on sequential days from 10 patients and processing half of each pooled harvest on each device. The CliniMACS product had significantly higher median CD34+ purity (90%vs 78%; P = 0.004) and lower median T-cell content (0.06%vs 0.44%; P = 0.003) compared with the Isolex 300i product. The median CD34+ yields were similar (64% and 60% respectively). However, when the functional capacities of the products were compared, the median recovery of colony-forming units was significantly greater from the Isolex 300i product (48%vs 38%; P = 0.035), as was expansion of cells in either erythroid or granulocytic lineage-specific liquid culture (2.1-fold more erythroid and 1.5-fold more granulocytic lineage progenitors on d 9 (P = 0.03 and 0.03 respectively). This was due to a higher proportion of apoptotic cells in the CliniMACS product (28%vs 18%; P = 0.007, annexin V binding). Hence, although the CliniMACS device yielded a higher purity product with fewer T cells, the Isolex 300i product contained fewer apoptotic cells and consequently had greater functional capacity in culture.

Tumor endothelial specific expression of Robo4 in adults identifies this plasma membrane protein as an anti-cancer target for immunotherapeutic approaches, such as vaccination. In this report, we describe how vaccination against Robo4 inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth. To break tolerance to the auto-antigen Robo4, mice were immunised with the extracellular domain of mouse Robo4, fused to the Fc domain of human immunoglobulin within an adjuvant. Vaccinated mice show a strong antibody response to Robo4, with no objectively detectable adverse effects on health. Robo4 vaccinated mice showed impaired fibrovascular invasion and angiogenesis in a rodent sponge implantation assay, as well as a reduced growth of implanted syngeneic Lewis lung carcinoma. The anti-tumor effect of Robo4 vaccination was present in CD8 deficient mice but absent in B cell or IgG1 knockout mice, suggesting antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity as the anti-vascular/anti-tumor mechanism. Finally, we show that an adjuvant free soluble Robo4-carrier conjugate can retard tumor growth in carrier primed mice. These results point to appropriate Robo4 conjugates as potential anti-angiogenic vaccines for cancer patients.

Background aims Economic ex vivo manufacture of erythrocytes at 10 12 cell doses requires an efficiently controlled bio-process capable of extensive proliferation and high terminal density. High-resolution characterization of the process would identify production strategies for increased efficiency, monitoring and control. Methods CD34 + cord blood cells or equivalent cells that had been pre-expanded for 7 days with Delta1 Notch ligand were placed in erythroid expansion and differentiation conditions in a micro-scale ambr suspension bioreactor. Multiple culture parameters were varied, and phenotype markers and metabolites measured to identify conserved trends and robust monitoring markers. Results The cells exhibited a bi-modal erythroid differentiation pattern with an erythroid marker peak after 2 weeks and 3 weeks of culture; differentiation was comparatively weighted toward the second peak in Delta1 pre-expanded cells. Both differentiation events were strengthened by omission of stem cell factor and dexamethasone. The cumulative cell proliferation and death, or directly measured CD45 expression, enabled monitoring of proliferative rate of the cells. The metabolic activities of the cultures (glucose, glutamine and ammonia consumption or production) were highly variable but exhibited systematic change synchronized with the change in differentiation state. Conclusions Erythroid differentiation chronology is partly determined by the heterogeneous CD34 + progenitor compartment with implications for input control; Delta1 ligand-mediated progenitor culture can alter differentiation profile with control benefits for engineering production strategy. Differentiation correlated changes in cytokine response, markers and metabolic state will enable scientifically designed monitoring and timing of manufacturing process steps.

A member of the retinoblastoma family of cell cycle regulatory proteins, p107, is not normally expressed in non-cycling cells. We demonstrate here that p107 is expressed in monocytes as they differentiate into dendritic cells under the influence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin 4, a process shown not to involve cellular proliferation. We show that p107 is localized to the nucleus of these cells and is active, in that it binds an E2F-DNA binding site, together with E2F transcription factors. These findings suggest a hitherto unknown role for p107 in non-proliferating dendritic cells that warrants further investigation.

The reduced engraftment potential of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) after exposure to cytokines may be related to the impaired homing ability of actively cycling cells. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the short-term homing of human adult CD34+ cells in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) animals. We show that the loss of engraftment ability of cytokine-activated CD34+ cells is associated with a reduction in homing of colony-forming cells (CFCs) to bone marrow (BM) at 24 hours after transplantation (from median 2.8% [range, 1.9%-6.1%] to 0.3% [0.0%-0.7%]; n = 3; P < .01), coincident with an increase in CFC accumulation in the lungs (P < .01). Impaired BM homing of cytokine-activated cells was not restored by using sorted cells in G0G1 or by inducing cell cycle arrest at the G1/S border. Blocking Fas ligation in vivo did not increase the BM homing of cultured cells. Finally, we tested cytokine combinations or culture conditions previously reported to restore the engraftment of cultured cells but did not find that any of these was able to reverse the changes in homing behavior of cytokine-exposed cells. We suggest that these changes in homing and, as a consequence, engraftment result from the increased migratory capacity of infused activated cells, leading to the loss of selectivity of the homing process.

The two clinical scale devices currently available for CD34+ cell selection from peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) apheresis products, the CliniMACS and the Isolex 300i, were compared directly by pooling and splitting two PBSC harvests collected on sequential days from 10 patients and processing half of each pooled harvest on each device. The CliniMACS product had significantly higher median CD34+ purity (90%vs 78%; P = 0.004) and lower median T-cell content (0.06%vs 0.44%; P = 0.003) compared with the Isolex 300i product. The median CD34+ yields were similar (64% and 60% respectively). However, when the functional capacities of the products were compared, the median recovery of colony-forming units was significantly greater from the Isolex 300i product (48%vs 38%; P = 0.035), as was expansion of cells in either erythroid or granulocytic lineage-specific liquid culture (2.1-fold more erythroid and 1.5-fold more granulocytic lineage progenitors on d 9 (P = 0.03 and 0.03 respectively). This was due to a higher proportion of apoptotic cells in the CliniMACS product (28%vs 18%; P = 0.007, annexin V binding). Hence, although the CliniMACS device yielded a higher purity product with fewer T cells, the Isolex 300i product contained fewer apoptotic cells and consequently had greater functional capacity in culture.

A method for simulating unsteady incompressible viscous flows on dynamic meshes within moving geometries and with fluid-structure interaction is described. Master of Engineering (MPE)

Cells are maintained in a quiescent state by members of the retinoblastoma protein family, pRb and p130. Both are phosphoproteins and hypophosphorylated forms of pRb and p130 bind and repress the activity of E2F transcription factors, thereby preventing entry into the cell cycle. Mitogenic stimulation causes activation of cyclin dependent kinases (cdk) that phosphorylate both pRb and p130, thereby releasing E2F factors which stimulate the transcription of a number of genes that are required for DNA synthesis and for regulating the cell cycle. In non-dividing cells, cdks are maintained in an inactive state by cdk inhibitor proteins such as p27(Kip1). The aim of our study was to determine how E2F complexes are regulated during the differentiation of human primary granulosa lutein cells (GLC) of the corpus luteum (CL). The CL is formed in the ovary after ovulation at the terminal stage of folliculogenesis after completion of maturation and differentiation of Graafian follicles. As shown by flow cytometry GLC are not dividing, being predominantly in the G(0)/G(1) phase of the cell cycle and, consistent with this, they contain the cdk inhibitor protein, p27(Kip1), but not E2F-1 which is normally expressed only in proliferating cells. The GLC do express E2F-4, hypophosphorylated pRb, p130 forms 1 and 2 and, surprisingly, hypophosphorylated p107. p107 is normally present only in dividing cells where it regulates E2F activity during the cell cycle. These forms of pRb, p130 as well as p107, together with E2F-4 are all active in that they can bind an E2F DNA-binding site in a pull-down assay. Immunocytochemistry shows that these proteins are expressed in almost all GLC but have different sub-cellular distribution: p107 is concentrated in nucleoli, while p130 and E2F-4 show relatively even nuclear and cytoplasmic distributions. Both pRb and p130 have been implicated previously in repressing E2F activity in many different cell types during cell cycle arrest in G(0)/G(1). We conclude that p107 is active in human primary GLC but its nucleolar localisation would suggest that it represses ribosomal RNA synthesis rather than E2F activity.