3 research outputs found
A case of concomitant leukemoid reaction and mucormycosis in a patient with severe COVID-19 infection
No full textLeukemoid Reaction (LR) signifies leukocytosis characterized by mature neutrophils. The incidence of LR is about 1 % among hospitalized patients. Mucormycosis is a rare, aggressive, fatal fungal infection that afflicts immune-compromised patients. This study discusses the case of concomitant leukemoid reaction and mucormycosis in a patient with severe COVID-19 infection
The Transcriptomic and Genomic Analysis of Lamin A/C Expression in the Colon and in Colorectal Cancer
Get PDFLamins A and C, also known as A-type lamins, are type V nuclear intermediate filament proteins which form an interlacing meshwork of filaments subjacent to the inner nuclear membrane termed the nuclear lamina. A-type lamins have been implicated in DNA replication, gene transcription regulation, apoptosis, regulation of growth promoters and nuclear migration. Traditionally, expression of A-type lamins has been associated with differentiated cells. As such, mutations in A-type lamins have been associated with a diverse range of genetic diseases, including premature ageing syndromes and with increased proliferation, especially in tumours.
In colorectal cancer, expression of A-type lamins, have been shown to impart an adverse prognosis. In order to understand the underlying biological processes responsible for this adverse outcome in patients with colorectal cancer, I sought to clarify the expression profile of A-type lamins and their binding partners in normal colonic/rectal mucosa, prior to investigating the expression of A-type lamins in colorectal cancers. I used fresh tissue specimens obtained from patients with colorectal cancer for my experiments. A unique finding was the expression of lamin A in the putative stem cell niche of colonic / rectal mucosal crypts.
Further studies in the form of a microarray analysis, revealed a very complex picture of up regulation involving various signalling cascades in the cancer samples expressing A-type lamins. There was no evidence to suggest a direct involvement of A-type lamins influencing the Wnt signalling cascade, however, direct involvement of other signalling cascades, such as the IGF signalling cascade, Shh signalling cascade and TGF-β signalling cascades were noted. These signalling cascades were known to influence the Wnt signalling cascades and hence could play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancers expressing A-type lamins.
In addition to these important signalling cascades, other key genes involved in apoptosis, growth promoters, cell adhesion, stem cell regulation, oncogenes and tumour suppression, were noted to have a unique expression profile in the cancer sample expressing A-type lamins, not observed in the cancer sample lacking A-type lamin expression. These observations were suggestive of A-type lamins having a diverse range of actions via, as yet, undefined pathways. It would appear that A-type lamins were imparting a more motile, less adherent phenotype with stem cell like features in colorectal cancers expressing A-type lamins. This could explain the observed poor prognosis of patients with colorectal cancers expressing A-type lamins.
Creatine kinase brain (CKB), was also identified as an additional, potential, prognostic indicator in the Duke’s B group of patients with colorectal cancer expressing A-type lamins. This potential marker, in conjunction with A-type lamin expression could be used to identify a sub group of Duke’s B patients at high risk. Whether adjuvant therapy in this group would help improve their long term survival is unknown since no study has been done to assess this
The regulation of labour and the state in the Sudan : a study of the relationship between the stage of social and economic development and the autonomy of labour relations law
Get PDFThe thesis is a study of labour regulation and the State in the
Sudan in the light of a general theoretical conception of labour law and
the State. The first Chapter defines the concepts of analysis that are
used throughout the study, isolates the "essential" properties of the
Capitalist State and Law from the historically concrete forms which they
assume in a particular society and distinguishes between processes which
influence development of the form of law and others which influence its
sociological development. Drawing on the analysis in Chapter I, Chapter
II exposes the inter-relationship between the Sudanese social formation,
State and Law and the implication of this inter-relationship for both the
form and substance of labour relations law. Chapters III, IV and V are
specific verifications of the hypothesis regarding the inter-relationship
between the State and labour relations law in the Sudan and that
regarding the development of the "substance" and "ideology" of law in
general.
The thesis considers law as an empirically-founded discipline.
But, it distinguishes between various types of empirical facts about law
corresponding with respective semi-autonomous social levels at which law
asserts its existence. The research method followed describes the
empirical facts about law at the particular level and, in order to
determine the epistemological significance of these facts, analytically
relates them to empirical facts at other levels. Wherever used in the
thesis the term "theory" signifies either this methodological procedure of
analysing the inter-connection of empirical facts at a certain level and
their inter-relation with other facts at other levels, or the substantive
generalizations about law which findings at these various levels would
allow.
I consider my application of this methodology to the study of
labour rela tions law, the historical dimension this application introduces
in socio-economic analysis of this law, the criticism of certain Marxist
and other sociological conceptions of law it enables, and the
socio-histor ical relativity of the "substance" and "ideology" of law it
reveals as original contributions to the knowledge of labour law. The
compilation and evaluation within the framework of the thesis of
empirical materials on industrial relations in the Sudan are likewise
original contribution to the knowledge of Sudanese "labour law" and
labour law in general
