In this study, we sought to understand the selective pressures shaping the Ig-producing cell repertoire in the parotid glands of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) patients before and after rituximab treatment (RTX). In particular, we evaluated the role of potential N-glycosylation motifs acquired by somatic hypermutation (ac-Nglycs) within Ig H chain V region (IGHV) genes as alternative selectiv...

OBJECTIVES Postsystolic shortening (PSS) has been proposed as a marker of myocardial dysfunction. Percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation (PTSMA) is an alternative therapy for patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) that results in sustained improvements in atrial structure and function. We investigated the effects of PTSMA on PSS in HOCM patients using speckle...

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) is rare in India. Clinically manifest renal disease in PSS is uncommon and is usually an autoimmune tubulointerstitial nephritis presenting with distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) or a urinary concentrating defect. Hypokalemic paralysis due to dRTA in PSS is rare but well documented in medical literature. Rhabdomyolysis as a consequence of hypokalemia in PSS i...

The structure of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)–poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT Æ PSS) consists of an insulating PSS layer surrounding doped PEDOT grains. In this study, X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) are used to investigate the composition and electronic structure of as-loaded and lightly sputtered PEDOT Æ PSS films. The sputtered film shows a significant increa...

Cell patterning has emerged as an elegant tool in developing cellular arrays, bioreactors, biosensors, and lab-on-chip devices and for use in engineering neotissue for repair or regeneration. In this study, micropatterned surfaces were created using the layer-by-layer lift-off (LbL-LO) method for analyzing canine chondrocytes response to patterned substrates. Five materials were chosen based on...