The etiology of bladder cancer--are there any new clues or predictors of behavior?

It is well documented that the etiology of bladder cancer involves environmental factors. Most chemical carcinogens probably affect the urothelial cells via their presence in the urine. As an important cofactor, cell proliferative activity may be increased by urinary bladder infection, irritation by bladder stones or through the action of a variety of endogenously produced direct acting chemicals or agents.

[The scintigraphic effect of extracorporeal lithotripsy: prospective series of 25 cases].

25 patients with non complicated renal stones were treated by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) using Sonolith 3000 an electrohydraulic generator type. They were evaluated before, 15 days and 3 months after ESWL by renal scintigraphy, using for 15 of them technetium -99m dimer captosuccinic acid and technetium -99m-diethylene-triamine acetate for the last 10. This follow up scintigraphic study shows no reduction of glomerular filtration rate after ESWL but some focal parenchymal lesions.

Influence of cholesterol derivatives on cytoskeletal organization of human carcinoma cells.

Recent developments of immunotherapeutic approaches have shown that artificial ordering of tumor cell membranes with cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) or 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH) may significantly enhance the immunogenicity of human renal adenocarcinoma cells. To gain further insight into the molecular mechanism of these sterols, we investigated cytoskeletal modification, which is related to the cell membrane. After treatment of human renal carcinoma cells with these cholesterol (at 10(-6) and 10(-7) M) for 5 days, we observed a disorganization of the submembrane end of the cytoplasmic actin stress fibers by cytofluorescence.

[Importance of MRI in hydronephrosis caused by acute or chronic ureteral obstruct. Prospective study].

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the normal kidney shows in T1 weighted sequence a spontaneous corticomedullary differentiation. In case of ureteral obstruction the corticomedullary differentiation tends to disappear, the medullary signal intensity in T1 weighted sequence is lower and the whole kidney signal intensity in T2 weighted sequence is greater in acute phase. 16 patients with lithiasis ureteral obstruction were evaluated in MRI study.