During mammal pregnancy, a sensitive balance between hormones, cytokines, humoral factors, and local cellular interactions must be established. Cytotoxic cells infiltrating the decidua are heavily equipped with cytolytic molecules, in particular perforin and granulysin. Granulysin is especially abundant in NK cells which are able to spontaneously secrete high quantities of granulysin. Besides being a potent bactericidal and tumoricidal molecule, granulysin is also found to be a chemoattractant and a proinflammatory molecule. The precise role(s) of granulysin at the maternal-fetal interface has not been elucidated yet. It is possible that it behaves as a double-edged sword simultaneously acting as an immunomodulatory and a host defense molecule protecting both the mother and the fetus from a wide spectrum of pathogens, and on the other hand, in case of an NK cell activation, acting as an effector molecule causing the apoptosis of semiallograft trophoblast cells and consequently leading to various pregnancy disorders or pregnancy loss.

Repeated intragastric inoculation of Listeria monocytogenes into BALB/c mice resulted in prolonged bacteraemia and severe hepatic infection. Bacteria could also be isolated from the brain tissue of all experimental mice. During the inflammatory process, chemokine concentrations typically increased at the local site in comparison to the systemic level. The liver‐to‐serum ratio was more pronounced in the case of macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP‐1α), suggesting its role in the inflammatory response in the liver. The ratio of brain‐to‐serum concentration of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP‐1) remained the same as in the control animals, while it was lower in the infected mice, both in the case MIP‐1α and in the case of regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES). This is in correlation with slight inflammatory infiltrates found in the brain tissue early in infection.

Background/Objectives: The aim of our study was to identify the most reliable MRI measurements associated with patellar dislocation. Methods: MRI scans from 86 knees (48 controls and 38 with a history of patellar dislocation) were retrospectively analyzed. The following parameters were measured: lateral trochlear inclination (LTI) and its modified version, sulcus angle (SA), trochlear depth (TD), tibial tubercle–trochlear groove distance (TT–TG), patellar tendon–lateral trochlear ridge distance (PT–LTR), and PT–LTR horizontal, a novel modification. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and diagnostic accuracy was evaluated using ROC analysis. Results: All measurements significantly differed between the groups (p < 0.05). SA and TD were highly discriminative (AUC > 0.8) but demonstrated lower inter-rater agreement. PT-LTR horizontal strongly correlated with PT-LTR and was equally sensitive and specific for patellar dislocation as PT-LTR (81.6% and 87.5%, respectively) when in line or extending more laterally than the lateral trochlear ridge (AUC = 0.896, p < 0.001). LTI demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance with a sensitivity of 89.5% and a specificity of 97.9% for a cut-off ≤12.85° (AUC = 0.981), with excellent inter-rater agreement. LTI modified also performed well (AUC = 0.937), with a sensitivity and specificity of 81.6% and 93.7%, respectively. Conclusions: LTI, PT–LTR, and their modified versions demonstrated the highest reliability and diagnostic performance among the MRI measurements evaluated. Given their reproducibility and ease of application, these parameters may be useful in the imaging assessment of patellar dislocation. Further prospective studies are recommended to confirm their clinical utility in broader populations.

Aim: Primary vaginal cancer is rare, comprising about 3% of all gynaecological malignancies. Solitary bone metastases to appendicular skeleton are extremely rare and there are only few published reports. We report the case of isolated metastasis in t...