ABSTRACT Agents that inhibit programmed cell death (IPD-1) in T lymphocytes are indicated for patients with advanced cancer. However, some individuals may develop endocrinological conditions, such as diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, and lipodystrophy, after treatment. This systematic review and case report of IPD-1 lipodystrophies describes a patient who received nivolumab treatment for advanced clear cell renal carcinoma and subsequently developed diabetes as well as facial and body lipodystrophy. The patient complained of social distress due to her facial appearance. We treated […]

Philadelphia-chromosome negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms are clonal hematologic diseases characterized by hematopoietic progenitor independence from or hypersensitivity to cytokines. The cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of myeloproliferative neoplasms have not yet been fully clarified. Pathophysiologic findings relevant for myeloproliferative neoplasms are associated with genetic alterations, such as, somatic mutation in the gene that codifies JAK-2 (JAK V617F). Deregulation of the process of programmed cellular death, called apoptosis, seems to participate in the pathogenesis of these disorders. It […]

OBJECTIVE: To verify if the medicinal plants Panax ginseng C.A. Mey, Turnera diffusa Willd. ex Schult., and Heteropterys tomentosa O. Mach., which are amply used by the population as tonics and cognition enhancers, could have a protective effect on cell death by apoptosis, since this could be one of the mechanisms of action of these substances. METHODS: Aged male Wistar rats (n=24) were divided into four groups. Over 30 days, three groups received treatments with hydroalcoholic extracts of the plants, […]

ABSTRACT Pulmonary emphysema is a chronic obstructive disease, resulting from important alterations in the whole distal structure of terminal bronchioles, either by enlargement of air spaces or by destruction of the alveolar wall, leading to loss of respiratory surface, decreased elastic recoil and lung hyperinflation. For many years, the hypothesis of protease-antiprotease unbalance prevailed as the central theme in the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema. According to this hypothesis, the release of active proteolytic enzymes, produced mainly by neutrophils and macrophages, […]