Multiple clinical manifestations and diagnostic challenges of incontinentia pigmenti--12 years' experience in 1 medical center

BACKGROUND

Incontinentia pigmenti (IP) is a rare X-linked dominant disorder that involves ectodermal tissues of multiple systems. Previous reports are few in Taiwan. To contribute toward better understanding of IP, we describe and discuss the clinical features of cases that were diagnosed in a medical center during the past 12 years.

METHODS

The medical records of all patients with IP between July 1995 and June 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. The demographics, physical findings, pathology reports, molecular study reports, eosinophil counts and outcome were recorded.

RESULTS

A total of 4 patients, 3 female and 1 male neonate, who met the criteria for the diagnosis of IP were enrolled. Among these cases, 3 were not diagnosed with IP at initial presentation but were regarded to have infectious diseases. A definite family history of 3 consecutive generations was proved not only by clinical manifestations but also by molecular study in 1 patient. The patient also had retinal and vitreous body hemorrhage, which rapidly progressed to retinal detachment of the right eye in 2 months. Another patient presenting with stage III hyperpigmentation at birth had an extremely rare finding of left foot deformity. The male patient had unilateral and localized vesicular lesions over his left thigh.

CONCLUSION

Diagnosis of IP is difficult in the neonatal period. Referral to experienced specialists is necessary. Multiple clinical characteristics of IP and rapid progression of ophthalmologic manifestations can be demonstrated through our study. Furthermore, 3 of the 4 cases in our study are the very first reports in Taiwan.

[Cost-effectiveness analysis of different chemotherapeutical regimens in metastatic colorectal cancer]

OBJECTIVE

To compare FOLFOX6 and FOLFIRI regimen in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer with cost-effective analysis.

METHODS

Cost-effective analysis was conducted based on the efficacy results of V308 clinical trial of FOLFOX6 and FOLFIRI regimen and the medical system price in Zhongshan hospital.

RESULTS

The minimal cost analysis showed FOLFIRI followed by FOLFOX6 had the cost of RMB 206365.78 Yuan for each patient during the whole treatment period, and RMB 170468.89 Yuan for the FOLFOX6 followed by FOLFIRI regimen. Incremental analysis showed FOLFIRI followed by FOLFOX6 regimen could prolong one month of overall survival with additional cost of RMB 39885.44 Yuan in each patient while compared with the regimen of FOLFOX6 followed by FOLFIRI.

CONCLUSIONS

Both FOLFOX and FOLFIRI regimens are able to prolong the survival time of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, but cost of such treatments are still quite expensive for Chinese patients. FOLFOX6 regimen suggests better cost-effectiveness than FOLFIRI.

First Report of Rhizome Blight of Ginger Caused by Binucleate Rhizoctonia AG-R in China

In 2004, rhizome blight of ginger (Zingiber officinale (Willd.) Roscoe) (cv. Yunnanxiaojiang) occurred in the Kunming District of China. The surface of ginger rhizome after harvest was crimpled and covered with white hyphae. Initial symptoms on ginger were wilting on the stem and the color of the rhizome turned from white to light brown with no lesion formation. After 2 weeks, the surface of ginger rhizome was covered with white hyphae and a dry rot set in under humid conditions. The yield loss in ginger almost reached 50% because of the disease. An AG-R tester isolate paired with the unknown 37 isolates of Rhizoctonia spp. from the diseased ginger rhizomes caused a C2 reaction that confirmed their identity. Isolates of AG-R (GenBank Accession Nos. DQ885780 and DQ885781) had 100% sequence similarity with 5.8S rDNA-ITS with the AG-R tester isolate (GenBank Accession No. AF354082). To produce infected soil inoculum, 10 isolates were cultured on potato dextrose agar in a 9-cm petri dish for 3 to 4 days and then covered with approximately 20 g of autoclaved soil and kept at 25°C for 3 to 4 days. Seedlings of ginger (cv, Yunanxiaojiang) were planted in natural potting soil at a density of one plant per vinyl pot (8 cm in diameter, 9 cm high) and grown in the greenhouse for 7 days. Each seedling was inoculated with 7 g of infested soil by placing it around the rhizome. Control plants were inoculated with autoclaved soil. The experiments were carried out three times, each time with three replicates in a growth chamber kept at 25 and 16°C with a 16-h light and 8-h dark photoperiod. After 14 days, the disease severity was recorded based on a scale in which - = no symptoms; + = small lesions on seedlings, no blight; ++ = seedling blight; and +++ = plant dead. All of the 10 tested AG-R isolates caused ginger seedling blight. Rhizoctonia spp. was reisolated from these plants, confirming its pathogenicity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of rhizome blight of ginger caused by Rhizoctonia spp. and binucleate Rhizoctonia AG-R in China. References: (1) B. Sneh et al. Page 135 in: Identification of Rhizoctonia Species. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1998.

First Report of Damping-Off of Swiss Chard Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 HG I and Binucleate Rhizoctonia AG-A in China

During July, 2003, damping-off of Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla L.) was observed in a seedling (approximately 1 month after germination) field (approximately 2 ha) in Yuanmou County in the Cuxiong District of Yunnan, China. More than 80% of the seedlings showed symptoms of the disease. Symptoms on newly emerged plants consisted of wilting, a brown necrosis of the lower taproot, and eventual death of seedlings. Among the 15 isolates of Rhizoctonia spp. isolated from Swiss chard with damping-off symptoms, 12 isolates of Rhizoctonia solani with dark brown sclerotia on potato dextrose agar (PDA) anastomosed with tester isolates of each subgroup AG-4 HG I, AG-4 HG II, and AG-4 HG III, giving a C2 hyphal fusion (1) reaction at a high frequency. The other three binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. (BNR) isolates whose mycelia were white with floccose aerial hyphae on PDA anastomosed freely with two BNR AG-A tester isolates producing a C2 hyphal reaction. The 5.8S rDNA-ITS of a single isolate of R. solani and a single isolate of BNR was sequenced. The sequence of the AG-4 isolate (GenBank Accession No. EF679777) exhibited 99 to 100% homology with isolates of R. solani AG-4, subgroup 4HG I (GenBank Accession No. AY154307). The sequence from the AG-A isolate (GenBank Accession No. EF679778) exhibited 98% homology with BNR AG-A (GenBank Accession Nos. AB000040 and AF354092). Swiss chard (cv. Baijin) seedlings (approximately 5 cm high) were planted in potting soil at a density of one seedling per vinyl pot (8 cm diameter, 9 cm high). Two isolates each of R. solani and BNR were used in pathogenicity testing. Each seedling was inoculated in the root zone with approximately 7 g of artificially infested soil. Control plants were inoculated with autoclaved soil. The experiments were conducted three times, each time with three replicates, in a greenhouse with a photoperiod of 16 h of light and 8 of h dark at 30 and 16°C, respectively. After 7 days, disease severity was measured based on a scale in which 0 = no symptom; 1 = small lesions on seedlings, no blight; 2 = leaves blight, no stem blight; 3 = stem blight; and 4 = plant dead. The two AG-4 and two of AG-A isolates were pathogenic on the Swiss chard seedlings and caused damping-off symptoms with a disease index 1.7 to 4.0, and there were no significant differences (P = 0.05) among them. We reisolated and confirmed the presence of R. solani and BNR AG-A from diseased plants. AG-3 isolates were reported to cause the damping-off of Swiss chard in the United States (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of damping-off of Swiss chard caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 HG I and BNR AG-A. References: (1) D. E. Carling. Page 37 in: Grouping in Rhizoctonia solani by Hyphal Anastomosis Reaction. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordecht, the Netherlands, 1996. (2) S. T. Koike and K. V. Subbarao. Plant Dis. 83:695, 1999.

Dynamic evaluation of [18F]-FDG uptake in the rat brain by microPET imaging

This study aims to acquire the functional image of the rat brain, small animal positron emission tomography (microPET) with high resolution and sensitivity is adopted to assess the metabolic activity corresponding to the neuronal activity induced by the electrical stimulation of the rat tail using [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) as the radiotracer. The microPET imaging technology can provide anatomical and functional information on neuronal activity used to analyze responses in pathway sequence relationships between the thalamus and the cerebral cortex.

Short interfering RNA against the PDCD5 attenuates cell apoptosis and caspase-3 activity induced by Bax overexpression

The programmed cell death 5 (PDCD5) protein plays an important apoptosis-accelerating role in cells undergoing apoptosis. Decreased expression of PDCD5 has been detected in various human carcinomas. Here we describe that one potent short interfering RNA (siRNA) against the PDCD5 (siPDCD5) specifically inhibits the expression of PDCD5 at both the mRNA and protein level. Cells with decreased PDCD5 expression displayed reduced sensitivity to an apoptotic stimulus induced by Bax overexpression in HeLa, HEK293 and 293T cell lines. Furthermore, we also show that siPDCD5 inhibited both caspase-3 activity and procaspase-3 cleavage. Suppressed expression of PDCD5 attenuates the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol induced by Bax overexpression. This phenomenon is accompanied by the reduced translocation of Bax from the cytosol to mitochondria. MTT assay shows that targeted suppression of PDCD5 expression markedly promoted cell proliferation in Hela and HEK293 cell lines. Our data suggests that PDCD5 may exert its effects through pathway of mitochondria by modulating Bax translocation, cytochrome c release and caspase 3 activation directly or indirectly, and that decreased PDCD5 expression may be one of the mechanisms by which tumor cells achieve resistance to apoptotic stimulus induced by anticancer drugs.

Kondo interactions and magnetic correlations in CePt2 nanocrystals

The evolution of the Kondo effect and antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations with size reduction in CePt2 nanoparticles (3.1-26 nm) is studied by analysis of the temperature-dependent specific heat and magnetic susceptibility. The AF correlations diminish with size reduction. The Kondo effect predominates at small particle size with trivalent, small Kondo temperature (TK) magnetic regions coexisting with strongly mixed-valent, large TK nonmagnetic regions. We discuss the role of structural disorder, background density of states and the electronic quantum size effect on the results.

Estimation of beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure using pulse arrive time and pulse width derived from the photoplethysmogram

Continuous arterial blood pressure monitoring is essential in monitoring patients during surgical operation or in intensive care units. In this study, we propose a new method to estimate beat-to-beat systolic blood pressure by combining the pulse arrive time and normalized pulse width measurement. The method was examined in nine patients who were in ICU. Results shows the new method has higher linearity (0.8218) and better precision (3.0775) than the methods using either pulse arrive time or pulse width only.

Lattice disorder and size-induced kondo behavior in CeAl2 and CePt(2+x)

When the size of CeAl2 and CePt(2+x) particles is reduced to the nanometer scale, antiferromagnetism is suppressed and Kondo behavior predominates, with the Kondo temperature T(K) either decreasing (CeAl2) or increasing (CePt(2+x)) relative to the bulk. Local structure measurements show that these nanoparticles are significantly distorted. While such distortions should strongly affect magnetic and electronic properties, we find they cannot explain the observed changes in T(K). Other size-induced changes to the electronic structure must, therefore, play a significant role.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) is a novel mitochondria protein with an N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence and induces apoptosis

Apoptosis is a genetically determined cell suicide program. Mitochondria play a central role in this process and various molecules have been shown to regulate apoptosis in this organelle. In the present study, we firstly identified that protein tyrosine phosphatase interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) is a novel mitochondrial protein, which may induce apoptosis in HEK293T and HeLa cell lines. PTPIP51 transfection resulted in the externalization of phosphatidylserine (PS), activation of caspase-3, cleavage of PARP, and condensation of nuclear DNA. Further investigation revealed that PTPIP51 over-expression caused a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and release of cytochrome c, suggesting that it may be involved in a mitochondria/cytochrome c mediated apoptosis pathway. We also found that a putative TM domain near the N terminus of PTPIP51 is required for its targeting to mitochondria, as evidenced by the finding that deletion of the PTPIP51 TM domain prevented the protein's mitochondiral localization. Furthermore, this deletion significantly influenced the ability of PTPIP51 to induce apoptosis. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that PTPIP51 is a mitochondrial protein with apoptosis-inducing function and that the N-terminal TM domain is required for both the correct targeting of the protein to mitochondria and its apoptotic functions.

Effect of a periodized exercise training and active recovery program on antitumor activity and development of dendritic cells

AIM

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells that promote antitumor immunity in vivo when pulsed with tumor antigen. No studies have indicated that exercise training affects DC function. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a 5-week periodized exercise training and active recovery program on the development of DCs, and to test their effect on the antitumor immunity of mononuclear cells (MNC) from blood and spleen against human leukemic U937 and murine lymphoma Yac-1 cells, respectively.

METHODS

Male Fisher 344 rats were divided into 2 groups: exercise and non-exercise group. The training protocol consisted of running on a motor-driven treadmill 6 days a week for consecutive 5 weeks, during which the running time, treadmill speed, and incline gradient were increased weekly. Active recovery parameters were set at 30% of the intensity of the previous day.

RESULTS

DC numbers increased significantly (P<0.05) in the exercise group compared to controls, but there were no significant changes in the expression of surface antigens CD80 and CD86. In exercise group MNC-conditioned medium (CM) prepared with 50 microg/mL phytohemagglutinin (PHA) significantly inhibited proliferation of U937 cells, and splenocyte-CM with PHA at 20 and 40 microg/mL significantly inhibited proliferation of YAC-1 cells greater than control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The 5-week periodized exercise training with active recovery promotes the number of DCs and enhances the activity of DCs against tumor cells.

Supraclavicular versus infraclavicular subclavian vein catheterization in infants

BACKGROUND

Central venous catheterization is an important procedure for infant patients for a number of different purposes, including nutritional support, surgical operation, hemodynamic monitoring, and multiple lines for critical care medications. Subclavian vein catheterization (SVC) is one of the central vein catheterization techniques. SVC can be performed from 4 different locations: right supraclavicular (RSC), left supraclavicular (LSC), right infraclavicular (RIC), and left infraclavicular (LIC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative effectiveness and complication risks of these 4 SVC locations in infants.

METHODS

In our pediatric intensive care unit, which is part of a tertiary medical center, a well-trained fellow doctor performed the following catheterizations: 21 RSC, 24 LSC, 24 RIC, and 22 LIC, for a total of 91 SVC operations in infants. The patients were placed in the Trendelenburg position. The site of puncture was decided by the operator. Statistical significance was analyzed according to Fisher's exact test and 2-sample t test.

RESULTS

The overall success rate was 90.1% (82 out of 91 operations). No statistically significant differences were noted among these 4 groups, either in the success or complication rate. There were 6 cases of arterial puncture (5 supraclavicular and 1 infraclavicular, p = 0.09), 2 cases of pneumothorax (1 RSC and 1 RIC), and 2 cases of malpositioned catheter (1 RSC and 1 RIC). There was no mortality.

CONCLUSION

In our study, we found that there was no statistically significant difference among the 4 SVC locations in effectiveness of operation or in risk of complication. There was a tendency to damage the subclavian arteries through the supraclavicular route.

Posterior cranial fossa crowdedness is related to age and sex: an magnetic resonance volumetric study

PURPOSE

To measure 3-dimensional (3D) posterior cranial fossa (PCF) crowdedness and to evaluate the effect of age, sex, and body height on PCF.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Fifty-two healthy volunteers (24 M and 28 F; mean age 55.4 +/- 17.2 years; range 24-82 years) were recruited. Using a semi-automated magnetic resonance technique, we calculated a PCF crowdedness index (CI) as the ratio of hindbrain (HB) volume to PCF volume x 100% and correlated this index with age, sex, body height, and other crowdedness parameters.

RESULTS

The mean PCF CI was 93.7 +/- 2.7%. Women had a more crowded PCF than men (95.0+1.7% versus 92.1 +/- 2.7%; P<0.001). PCF CI declined with age for both men (r = -0.61; P=0.002) and women (r = -0.68; P<0.001). The association with age--but not HB volume was maintained after we controlled for sex and body height. On multiple regression, both age and sex accounted for 57.5% of the PCF CI variance.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows that PCF CI is associated with age and sex, and can therefore be used as a surrogate to assess hindbrain atrophy in a cross-sectional sample. Moreover, sex- and age-specific normal ranges may be needed to evaluate the PCF CI in clinical practice.

Multiple signaling pathways regulate FGF-2-induced retinal ganglion cell neurite extension and growth cone guidance

Growth cones use cues in their environment in order to grow in a directed fashion to their targets. In Xenopus laevis, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) participate in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon guidance in vivo and in vitro. The main intracellular signaling cascades known to act downstream of the FGF receptor include the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), phospholipase Cgamma (PLCgamma) and phosphotidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways. We used pharmacological inhibitors to identify the signaling cascade(s) responsible for FGF-2-stimulated RGC axon extension and chemorepulsion. The MAPK, PI3K and PLCgamma pathways were blocked by U0126, LY249002 and U73122, respectively. D609 was used to test a role for the phosphotidylcholine-PLC (PC-PLC) pathway. We determined that the MAPK and two PLC pathways are required for FGF-2 to stimulate RGC neurite extension in vitro, but the response of axons to FGF-2 applied asymmetrically to the growth cone depended only on the PLC pathways.

Relativistic electromagnetic ion cyclotron instabilities

The relativistic instabilities of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves driven by MeV ions are analytically and numerically studied. As caused by wave magnetic field and in sharp contrast to the electrostatic case, interesting characteristics such as Alfve nic behavior and instability transition are discovered and illuminated in detail. The instabilities are reactive and are raised from the coupling of slow ions' first-order resonance and fast ions' second-order resonance, that is an essential extra mechanism due to relativistic effect. Because of the wave magnetic field, the nonresonant plasma dielectric is usually negative and large, that affects the instability conditions and scaling laws. A negative harmonic cyclotron frequency mismatch between the fast and slow ions is required for driving a cubic (and a coupled quadratic) instability; the cubic (square) root scaling of the peak growth rate makes the relativistic effect more important than classical mechanism, especially for low fast ion density and Lorentz factor being close to unity. For the cubic instability, there is a threshold (ceiling) on the slow ion temperature and density (the external magnetic field and the fast ion energy); the Alfve n velocity is required to be low. This Alfve nic behavior is interesting in physics and important for its applications. The case of fast protons in thermal deuterons is numerically studied and compared with the analytical results. When the slow ion temperature or density (the external magnetic field or the fast ion energy) is increased (reduced) to about twice (half) the threshold (ceiling), the same growth rate peak transits from the cubic instability to the coupled quadratic instability and a different cubic instability branch appears. The instability transition is an interesting new phenomenon for instability.

49, XXXXY syndrome with severe vesico-ureteral reflux and hydronephrosis: report of one case

The 49, XXXXY syndrome was first reported in 1960. It represents a rare sex chromosome aneuploidy syndrome. Some consider it as the most severe variant of Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY). The approximate incidence is 1 in 85,000 male births. The karyotype arises from maternal non-disjunction during both meiosis I and meiosis II. The clinical presentations of 49, XXXXY syndrome include mental deficiency, hypogonadism, severe speech delay, multiple skeletal anomalies, cardiac defects and characteristic facial features. It might be mistaken for Down syndrome and needs chromosome analysis for confirmation. According to literature review, urinary tract anomaly in association with 49, XXXXY syndrome was extremely rare. Here we report a case of 49, XXXXY with Down syndrome-like facial dysmorphism, who was found to have patent ductus arteriosus and hypotonia. Moreover, he also got grade V vesico-ureteral reflux, R't with hydronephrosis and urinary tract infection. We hope to remind clinicians to arrange chromosomal analysis if multiple congenital anomalies exist in a neonate. And remember to exclude congenital genitourinary tract anomaly if karyotype 49, XXXXY is diagnosed.

Subclavian central venous catheterization in infants with body weight less than 10 kg

Central venous access is an important aspect of medical treatment in intensive care units. We frequently require central venous catheterization (CVC) for total parenteral nutrition (TPN), intravenous antibiotics, multiple transfusions, and chemotherapy. The primary aim of this study is to demonstrate that percutaneous central venous catheterization in patients with body weight (BW) less than 10 kg can be conducted by the subclavian vein rather than the traditional femoral vein. Between January 1998 and December 2003, we performed 70 subclavian vein catheterizations (SVCs) in 46 patients with BW less than 10 kg in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a tertiary medical center. We divided patients according to their body weight into two groups, BW less than 5 kg and BW between 5 and 10 kg. We found SVC had a high total success rate, 92.9% (65/70), for the whole group. Success rate was 83.3% (15/18) for the BW less than 5 kg group and 96.2% (50/52) for the BW 5-10 kg group. In this study we found percutaneous subclavian venous catheterization in children with BW below 10 kg to be a relatively safe procedure with low risk of complication and no risk of mortality.

An early diagnosis leads to a good prognosis: a patient with maple syrup urine disease--screened by tandem mass spectrometry

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), or branched-chain ketoaciduria, is an autosomal recessive disorder of branched-chain amino acid metabolism. The classic MSUD is the most severe form. The prognosis is usually guarded. The acute metabolic decompensation and neurological deterioration attribute to severe sequelae. The age of diagnosis and subsequent metabolic control are the most important determinants of long-term prognosis. We report one classic MSUD case with good outcome. The early diagnosis was achieved by tandem mass spectrometry screening. Since most MSUD patients in Taiwan are native Taiwanese, we strongly suggest routine tandem mass screening of MSUD is necessary, especially in the high-risk groups, to minimize morbidity and mortality.

Adaptive processing bandwidth adjustment for laser Doppler flowmetry

A novel laser Doppler flowmetry scheme is reported that adjusts the processing bandwidth adaptively to optimise the estimation of flow. To obtain an adequate processing bandwidth, the Doppler spectra is first fitted to the Lorentzian function, and the bandwidth at half the maximum of the Lorentzian function is used as an indicator of the major frequency range of the signal. The processing bandwidth is then tuned accordingly, and a frequency-weighted algorithm is applied to compute the fluid velocity. To investigate the influence of the processing bandwidth, an in vitro experiment was performed. In the experiment, the flow rate was controlled at constant velocity in the range from 0 to 18.52 mm s(-1), and the fluid velocity indices were calculated using adaptive and fixed processing bandwidths, respectively. The results showed that the adaptive processing bandwidth adjustment, not only significantly reduced the biological zero (9.6% of the case using 100 kHz bandwidth), but also enhanced the sensitivity of the laser Doppler measurement (over 20%) and linearly responded to a wider velocity range (R2 = 0.979 for velocity from 0 to 18.52 mm s(-1)).

Pilot point temperature regulation for thermal lesion control during ultrasound thermal therapy

The fundamental goal of ultrasound thermal therapy is to provide proper thermal lesion formations for effective tumour treatment. The quality of the therapy depends mostly on its positional precision. To date, most ultrasound thermal therapy treatments have focused on the formation of power or temperature patterns. The non-linear and time-delay effects of thermal dose formation prohibit direct control of the thermal dose distribution. In the paper, the control of thermal lesions by regulation of the temperature of a pilot point is proposed. This scheme utilises the high correlation between temperature elevation and thermal dose at the forward boundary of thermal lesions. To verify the feasibility, a 2D ultrasound phased array system was used to generate thermal lesions of various sizes, and the temperature elevation required to generate a thermal dose threshold was investigated. Results showed that the required temperature elevation was found to be a reasonably constant value of 52.5 degrees C under differing conditions when the focal area was small. When the focal area under consideration was large, the required temperature elevation became a monotonic function of blood perfusion rate, ranging from 49.2 to 52.5 degrees C. When the reference temperature of the pilot point was set at a conservative value (52.5 degrees C), the thermal lesions were controlled precisely under a wide range of blood perfusion and power pattern changes, tested by using a more realistic model that takes into account thermal-induced attenuation and blood perfusion changes. This changed the complex thermal dose control problem into a simple temperature regulation problem, which makes implementation of thermal lesion control easier, giving the scheme a high potential for application to current ultrasound thermal therapy systems.

Responsiveness, affinity constants and beta 2-adrenoceptor reserves for isoprenaline on portal veins from normo- and pre- and hypertensive rats

1. This study used contractility methods with the portal veins of 5- and 14-week-old Wistar-Kyoto normotensive rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The SHRs are prehypertensive at 5 weeks. 2. The first part of our study was to determine whether the responsiveness to isoprenaline and forskolin was altered in the maturation of portal veins from normo- and prehypertensive rats. The responses to forskolin were similar on the portal veins of 5- and 14-week-old WKY and SHRs. 3. The sensitivity and maximum responses to isoprenaline were similar on portal veins of 5- and 14-week-old WKY. The sensitivity and maximum responses to isoprenaline were lower on the portal veins of 5-week-old SHRs (pD2 = 8.25, maximum = 85%) than age-matched WKY (pD2 = 8.79, maximum = 96%); these differences are not caused by hypertension. At 14 weeks, the sensitivity was similar (WKY pD2 = 8.74, SHR pD2 = 8.65) but the maximum responses to isoprenaline were lower on the portal veins SHRs (77%) than WKY (97%). Thus, the sensitivity to isoprenaline increases with the development of hypertension in the SHR portal vein. 4. The second part of the study was to determine whether the affinity for isoprenaline at beta2-adrenoceptors and the fractional beta2-adrenoceptor occupancy-response relationships on the portal vein were altered in maturation from normo- and pre-hypertensive rats. The effects of bromoacetylalprenololmenthane (BAAM), an irreversible beta-adrenoceptor blocker, on the isoprenaline responses of 5- and 14-week-old WKY and SHRs were studied. Maturation of the WKY portal vein between 5 and 14 weeks was associated with a loss of affinity for isoprenaline (from pKA of 7.13 to 7.87), and increase in beta2-adrenoceptor reserve (from 72 to 92% at the 95% response). There were similar affinity and reserve findings in the maturation of the SHR portal vein. Thus, there are major changes in beta2-adrenoceptor structure and reserve in maturation on the portal vein that are irrespective of the development of hypertension.

Isolated complete agenesis of corpus callosum

Agenesis of corpus callosum (ACC) often accompanies other neural migration disorders and its prognosis must take these disorders and other associated abnormalities into account. Isolated complete ACC, i.e., agenesis of corpus callosum without other central nervous system anomaly, is rare. A total of six patients, aged nine months to 15 years, with isolated complete ACC diagnosed by brain image study in the past eight years of our hospital were evaluated for associated defects and prognosis. Isolated complete ACC without associated congenital heart disease (CHD) was found in four of the six patients (4/6), of whom three had normal development so far. The other two patients (2/6) were found to have associated CHD and both had poor prognosis. This result suggests that checking for any associated CHD may play an important prognostic role for isolated complete ACC patients. Therefore, it is recommendable that prenatal brain MRI and fetal echocardiography should be performed for evaluation and for genetic consultation whenever ACC is suspected.

Basic fibroblast growth factor as a growth factor for SRV-2-infected simian retroperitoneal fibromatosis cells, an animal model for AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) were demonstrated to be important factors sustaining the growth of Kaposi's sarcoma. RF cells were used to provide a model to study the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma. In this paper, we demonstrated that bFGF is present in the RF cells, cultured media, and tissues from monkey. The biological activities of bFGF on RF cells were also studied in vitro with serum-free media. The bFGF from serum-free-conditioned media is biologically active to stimulate RF cells in certain media condition. The mitogenic effect was abrogated by sheep neutralizing anti-bFGF antibody. Furthermore, the effect of antibody was reversed by the addition of exogenous bFGF. ELISA measurements indicating the growth potency of conditioned media correlated with the amount of bFGF in the conditioned media. The data from flow cytometry demonstrated the co-existence of SRV-2 and bFGF among RF cells and RF tissues. Immunohistochemical staining of RF tissue blocks for bFGF revealed that bFGF was present in the tumor and the presence of bFGF was not caused by the artifact of tissue culture. These results indicate that bFGF is an important growth factor to promote RF cell growth in vitro and RF tumor in vivo. Further studies are required to determine the relationship between the interaction of bFGF, SRV-2, and VEGF. This model also provides an adequate alternative to the model induced by simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) to study the Kaposi's sarcoma.