The possible effects of the solar and geomagnetic activity on multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: Increasing observational evidence on the biological effects of Space Weather suggests that geomagnetic disturbances may be an environmental risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses. In the present study, we aim to investigate the possible effect of geomagnetic disturbances on MS activity.

Patients And Methods: MS patient admittance rates were correlated with the solar and geophysical data covering an eleven-year period (1996-2006, 23rd solar cycle).

Sequence-based genotyping HPV L1 DNA and RNA transcripts in clinical specimens.

We developed a direct sequence-based genotyping method to detect single and multiple HPV L1 DNA and RNA types in genital and dermatological specimens. Our method couples PCR amplification of a highly conserved HPV L1 segment using a broad spectrum-generic primer cocktail mix with automated sequencing of amplified PCR products, followed by GenBank sorting of sequencing data. We genotyped 5 skin and 30 cervical HPV DNA-positive specimens using this method and established its first experimentally derived working cutoff value with the aid of commercial hybridization-based techniques.

Could X-ray microbeams inhibit angioplasty-induced restenosis in the rat carotid artery?

Background: Parallel, thin (<100 microm) planes of synchrotron-generated X rays, have been shown to spare normal tissues and preferentially damage tumors in animal models. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of such microbeams directed unidirectionally on angioplasted rat carotid arteries.

Methods And Materials: Three groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were studied: (a) rats with normal, untreated arteries, (b) rats treated by balloon angioplasty, but not irradiated, and (c) rats treated with balloon angioplasty and exposed to single fraction, unidirectional, parallel, microbeams an hour after angioplasty.

A primary tumour of the oesophagus with both melanocytic and schwannian differentiation. Melanocytic schwannoma or malignant melanoma?

A 76 year old white woman presented with a four month history of dysphagia and weight loss. Clinical, radiological, and endoscopic examination revealed a pigmented mass in the lower third of the oesophagus. The preoperative diagnosis, including biopsy examination, was that of malignant melanoma.

Immunohistochemical expression of the p53, p21/Waf-1, Rb, p16 and Ki67 proteins in multiple myeloma.

The aim of this study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of the proteins p53, Waf-l/p21, Rb, p16 and Ki67 in 38 cases of multiple myelomas (MM) and 4 cases of solitary extramedullary plasmacytomas in relation to the tumor histological grade and stage. In bone marrow (BM) biopsies from MM, overexpression of p53 and p21 proteins, in comparison to plasma cell infiltrates in non-pathological bone marrow, was detected in 13 out of 38 and 21 out of 38 cases, respectively. The combined immunoexpression of p53 and p21 proteins in the 38 cases of MM showed the following patterns: a) p53+/p21+ (13 cases) b) p53-/p21+ (8 cases) and c) p53-/p21- (17 cases).

Cyclopia and exadactyly: CT and MRI findings.

Cyclopia is a congenital abnormality consisting of fused orbits and a single eye and is the most extreme form of alobar holoprosencephaly. The present case describes the CT and MRI findings in the skull of a 33-week-old cadaver with alobar holoprosencephaly and exadactyly.

A case of systemic pseudo-pseudoxanthoma elasticum with diverse symptomatology caused by long-term penicillamine use.

A 47 year old man presented with a two year history of increasing cervical dysphagia, dyspnoea, and cutaneous signs. He had been diagnosed 27 years previously with Wilson's disease and was treated with penicillamine (1.5 g daily).

Effects of chemotherapy on ultrastructure of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Seven oesophageal squamous carcinomas, treated with pre-operative chemotherapy (mitomycin-C, ifosfamide and cisplatin-MIC), with a course finishing 21 days prior to resection, were examined by electronmicroscopy. In one treated case detailed light microscopy failed to reveal any tumour. Five of the remaining six tumours showed cytotoxic damage in that apoptosis and unusual necrotic changes were observed in almost all the neoplastic cells.

Effects of chemotherapy on ultrastructure of oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Aims: To compare and contrast the ultrastructural appearance of resected oesophageal adenocarcinomas treated with preoperative chemotherapy with that of non-treated resected controls; and to determine the usefulness of this method in the assessment of the effectiveness of the chemotherapeutic regimen.

Methods: Ten resected oesophageal adenocarcinomas treated with preoperative chemotherapy--mitomycin-C, ifosfamide, and cisplatin (MIC)--were examined by transmission electron microscopy and their appearance compared with that of 13 concurrent untreated resected oesophageal adenocarcinomas.

Results: The treated adenocarcinomas showed cytotoxic damage although complete tumour eradication was not achieved.

The ultrastructure of oesophageal carcinomas: multidirectional differentiation. A transmission electron microscopic study of 43 cases.

Forty-three oesophageal carcinomas, comprising 15 squamous cell carcinomas, 22 adenocarcinomas, 5 small cell carcinomas, and 1 adenosquamous carcinoma, were examined by transmission electron microscopy. The ultrastructural features of each tumour type are detailed. Multi-directional differentiation (heterogeneity) was observed in 11 cases: 5 squamous cell carcinomas with focal glandular features; 4 adenocarcinomas with focal squamous features; and 2 small cell carcinomas, one with glandular and the other with squamous features.

Intestinal graft versus host disease.

An ileocolectomy specimen was examined from a patient with graft versus host disease (GvHD). In addition to the characteristic histological features of this condition, both the small and the large intestine showed extensive destruction of mucosal tissue with survival of clusters of enterochromaffin cells. This appearance has previously been described only in the large bowel.

Host-parasite interface of the urinary bladder-inhabiting nematode Trichosomoides crassicauda: changes induced in the urothelium of infected rats.

The urinary bladders of rats infected with Trichosomoides crassicauda were studied by light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The bladder epithelium of infected rats showed a diffuse, mild, flat hyperplasia, four to six cells thick. The anterior parts of adult female worms were embedded in tunnels within the hyperplastic epithelium with the posterior portions of the parasites lying free in the bladder lumen.

The fine structure of the human fetal urinary bladder. Development and maturation. A light, transmission and scanning electron microscopic study.

The urinary bladders of 27 human fetuses, aged 7 weeks to full term, were studied by light, transmission and scanning electron microscopy to establish the sequence of events in the development and maturation of the organ during fetal life. In the early specimens, 7-12 weeks old, the urinary bladder was lined by a bilayered, cuboidal and glycogen-rich epithelium. During the 13-17th weeks the epithelium thickened, a third layer developed and by light microscopy it now resembled urothelium.

Intraepithelial lumina in urothelial bladder neoplasms. A histochemical, immunohistochemical and electron microscopy study.

Intraepithelial lumina observed in 12 urothelial bladder neoplasms were studied histochemically, immunohistochemically and ultrastructurally. Both intercellular and intracytoplasmic lumina could be demonstrated showing an alcianophilic margin and containing non-sulphated acid mucins. The presence of secretory component (SC) was identified in neoplastic urothelial cells around or adjacent to intercellular lumina as well as in cells with intracytoplasmic lumina.

Scanning electron microscopy of the upper urinary tract in transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis.

Three nephrectomy specimens with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the renal pelvis were thoroughly examined by both light and scanning electron microscopy. The tumours as well as the urothelium of the upper urinary tract were studied. In all three cases, extensive areas of the urothelium, even in places remote from the tumours, were found by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to be covered by pleomorphic microvilli.

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis. A reappraisal and immunohistochemical study.

The clinicopathologic features of 17 patients with xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis are described, together with results on a number of histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques that were used to demonstrate the variety of cells involved. Based on our clinicopathologic data and review of the literature, we believe that xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis should be regarded as a destructive, and, at times, tumefactive inflammatory process that may complicate chronic pyelonephritis. The initiation of this process remains an enigma.

Intestinal spirochaetosis. Light and electron microscopic study.

24 cases of colon spirochaetosis have been studied by light and electron microscopy. This condition, although rarely diagnosed because of the absence of special clinical symptoms, seems to be a rather frequent histologic finding with marked variation in its geographical incidence. In our material the incidence of spirochaetosis was 16.

Curschmann's spirals in sputum: histochemical evidence of bronchial gland ductal origin.

Curschmann's spirals from 30 patients suffering from chronic bronchitis were examined histochemically by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Alcian blue (AB), PAS-AB, high-iron diamine (HID), and HID-AB stains. Their central core and fibrillar component were found to be rich in neutral mucins and in sulfated and nonsulfated acid mucins, while their outer mantle was rich in neutral and nonsulfated acid mucins only. Curschmann's spirals consist of mucus of high viscosity.

Production of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin by prostatic adenocarcinoma and transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract.

Ectopic production and secretion of hormones by a wide variety of tumours has been known for many years. Recently human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) production and/or secretion have been noted in 15 cases with prostatic adenocarcinoma (Fukutani et al. 1983; Papapetrou et al.

The effect of pentosanpolysulphate and carbenoxolone on bacterial adherence to the injured urothelium.

The effect of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer on the adherence of Escherichia coli to the bladder urothelium of rats has been studied. The study was performed by destroying the GAG layer and the changes were observed using the electron microscope. Bacterial adherence to the bladder with a destroyed GAG layer was much higher than to the normal bladder.

Idiopathic hydronephrosis. Light microscopic features and pathogenesis.

A histological study of surgical specimens of idiopathic hydronephrosis demonstrated an abnormal muscle arrangement at the ureteropelvic junction in 18 of 26 cases. We believe this abnormality to be the cause in these cases. At this junction, the muscle bundles, instead of displaying the normal interwoven (braided) pattern, are arranged into an outer circular and an inner longitudinal layer.

Spindle cell carcinoma (pseudosarcoma) of the anus: a light, electron microscopic and immunocytochemical study of a case.

We report a case of polypoid spindle cell squamous carcinoma (pseudosarcoma) occurring in the anal canal. Electron microscopic findings and the demonstration of keratin by an immunoperoxidase method, gave clear cut evidence of the epithelial nature of the sarcomatoid cells forming this tumour. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in the literature.