Actinomycosis of the appendix mimicking appendiceal tumor:A case report

Actinomycosis is an uncommon chronic infectious disease. Common sites of involvement include the cervicofacial, thoracic and abdominopelvic regions. In abdominopelvic actinomycosis, the ileocecal region, including the appendix, is the most commonly involved site. In some reports, limited appendiceal actinomycosis has revealed a thickened appendiceal wall with peri-appendiceal inflammation as acute appendicitis or perforated appendicitis. We experienced pathologically confirmed intraluminal limited appendiceal actinomycosis without peri-appendiceal infiltration. Here, we report the computed tomography and ultrasound findings.

Sensitivity of Snowfall Characteristics to Meteorological Conditions in the Yeongdong Region of Korea

This study investigates the characteristics of cold clouds and snowfall in both the Yeongdong coastal and mountainous regions under different meteorological conditions based on the integration of numerical modeling and three-hourly rawinsonde observations with snow crystal photographs for a snowfall event that occurred on 29−30 January 2016.We found that rimed particles predominantly observed turned into dendrite particles in the latter period of the episode when the 850 hPa temperature decreased at the coastal site,whereas the snow crystal habits at the mountainous site were largely needle or rimed needle.Rawinsonde soundings showed a well-defined,two-layered cloud structure along with distinctive wind-directional shear,and an inversion in the equivalent potential temperature above the low-level cloud layer.The first experiment with a decrease in lower-layer temperature showed that the low-level cloud thickness was reduced to less than 1.5 km,and the accumulated precipitation was decreased by 87%compared with the control experiment.The difference in precipitation amount between the single-layered experiment and control experiment(two-layered)was not so significant to attribute it to the effect of the seeder−feeder mechanism.The precipitation in the last experiment by weakening winddirectional shear was increased by 1.4 times greater than the control experiment specifically at the coastal site,with graupel particles accounting for the highest proportion(~62%).The current results would improve snowfall forecasts in complicated geographical environments such as Yeongdong in terms of snow crystal habit as well as snowfall amount in both time and space domains.

Programming of macrophages by UV-irradiated apoptotic cancer cells inhibits cancer progression and lung metastasis

Apoptotic cell clearance by phagocytes is essential in tissue homeostasis.We demonstrated that conditioned medium(CM)from macrophages exposed to apoptotic cancer cells inhibits the TGFβ1-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition(EMT),migration,and invasion of cancer cells.Apoptotic 344SQ(ApoSQ)cell-induced PPARγactivity in macrophages increased the levels of PTEN,which was secreted in exosomes.Exosomal PTEN was taken up by recipient lung cancer cells.ApoSQ-exposed CM from PTEN knockdown cells failed to enhance PTEN in 344SQ cells,restore cellular polarity,or exert anti-EMT and anti-invasive effects.The CM that was deficient in PPARγligands,including 15-HETE,lipoxin A4,and 15d-PGJ2,could not reverse the suppression of PPARγactivity or the PTEN increase in 344SQ cells and consequently failed to prevent the EMT process.Moreover,a single injection of ApoSQ cells inhibited lung metastasis in syngeneic immunocompetent mice with enhanced PPARγ/PTEN signaling both in tumorassociated macrophages and in tumor cells.PPARγantagonist GW9662 reversed the signaling by PPARγ/PTEN;the reduction in EMT-activating transcription factors,such as Snai1 and Zeb1;and the antimetastatic effect of the ApoSQ injection.Thus,the injection of apoptotic lung cancer cells may offer a new strategy for the prevention of lung metastasis.