Analysis of testosterone fatty acid esters in the digestive gland of mussels by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

Several studies have indicated that up to 70% of the total steroids detected in molluscs are in the esterified form and that pollutants, by modifying the esterification of steroids with fatty acids, might act as endocrine disrupters. However, despite the strong physiological significance of this process, there is almost no information on which fatty acids form the steroid esters and how this process is modulated. This study (a) investigates the formation of fatty acid esters of testosterone in digestive gland microsomal fractions of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis incubated with either palmitoly-CoA or CoA and ATP, and (b) assesses whether the endocrine disruptor tributyltin (TBT) interferes with the esterification of testosterone.

[Echotomography and hyperechoic angiomas of the liver. The structural aspects in 297 cases].

Two-hundred-seventy-nine hyperechoic liver hemangiomas were studied with sonography (US) in order to define their structural patterns and the incidence of the different signs that could be used for diagnostic purpose. For each hemangioma the following parameters were considered: hypoechoic areas inside the mass, posterior acoustic enhancement, hypoechoic halo surrounding the lesion, posterior attenuation, and calcifications. Hemangiomas were equally frequent in both sexes (1:1.

Spontaneous contractility in the human lymph vessels.

During the diagnostic lymphangiography of the lower limbs, the motility of the lymph vessels was investigated in 79 consecutive patients, by means of a particularly performed serial radiography, aided by photographic magnification of films. Because of technical difficulties, a rather high incidence of imperfect examinations occurred. In 26 out of 35 (74.

[Multi-institution, multidisciplinary radiology and endoscopy trial of the diagnostic accuracy of the double contrast examination of the stomach surface].

In 12 X-ray and gastroenterology departments 1570 patients, clinically suspected to have a gastric pathology, have been examined by double contrast (surface) examination of the stomach followed by gastroscopy. Diagnostic accuracy was 93% in respect of endoscopic data, assumed correct by hypothesis. On the basis of a cost and benefit evaluation, made according to the well known criteria, a wider routine use of the double contrast technique is proposed.