ERK1/2 is activated in non-small-cell lung cancer and associated with advanced tumours.

Activation of the ERK1/2 pathway is involved in malignant transformation both in vitro and in vivo. Little is known about the role of activated ERK1/2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to characterise the extent of the activation of ERK1/2 by immunohistochemistry in patients with NSCLC, and to determine the relationship of ERK1/2 activation with clinicopathological variables.

Expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase in several cell types of the rat gastric epithelium.

The aim of this study was to identify which cell types of the rat gastric epithelium express neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) because the results of the previous studies have been very divergent regarding this point. By the combination of immunohistochemical (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques, we detected expression of nNOS in chief and mucosecretory cells of the gastric epithelium. Moreover, some gastric endocrine cells were immunoreactive for nNOS, although they could not be distinguished in sections treated with ISH techniques.

[Asymmetric crying facies syndrome].

We report four cases with syndrome of asymmetric crying facies, analyzing particularly the etiology, embryology, and incidence of the congenital hypoplasia of depressor anguli oris muscle. In one of the cases, with multiple malformations, the patient had an abnormal karyotype, 47,XX, +i(18p). We stress the high incidence of associations with congenital malformations (eight fold the general population) and more specifically with congenital heart disease, musculoskeletal, and genito-urinary defects.