Health impact of Mediterranean diets in food at work.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of diet mediterranisation, in a food-at-work context, and its consequence on metabolic syndrome in a mid-age unselected healthy male population group.

Design: One-year longitudinal intervention study. Physical exercise was not modified.

Holter monitoring of central and peripheral temperature: possible uses and feasibility study in outpatient settings.

Background: Conventional clinical thermometry has important limitations. A continuous monitoring of temperature may offer significant advantages, including the use of chronobiological and complexity analysis of temperature profile and eventually the identification of a "pre-febrile" pattern.

Objective: We present a clinical model designed to measure, store and/or transmit in real time a central and a peripheral temperature reading.

Molecular biomarkers in prostate cancer.

Background: After more than two decades of clinical use, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has increased the early diagnosis of prostate cancer, detecting the disease even when small volumes are present. Although stage migration of prostate cancer has occurred, PSA has well-known limitations, despite attempts at refinement and modification, such as the use of PSA velocity, which have been used to improve it. New biomarkers for prostate cancer have been discovered, with promising early results.

Clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical features of an undifferentiated renal tubular carcinoma in a juvenile olive baboon (Papio anubis).

An undifferentiated renal tubular carcinoma was diagnosed in a juvenile male olive baboon (Papio anubis). The animal suddenly appeared depressed and refused to eat. During physical examination, a firm, palpable mass in the left abdominal area and flank pain were detected.

Tetrameriosis in feral pigeons from Murcia, Southeastern Spain.

A total of 165 adult feral pigeons (Columba livia) were captured in 7 different parks of the municipality of Murcia, Southeastern Spain. Birds were evaluated clinically and subsequently necropsied. All birds appeared to be in good physical condition and no apparent signs of disease were observed.

Complex equilibria in the maintenance of boundaries: experiments with mussel beds.

Stationary boundaries of sedentary species may belie dynamic processes that form them. Our aim was to test an implication of an evolving body of theory, that such boundaries are manifestations of complex regulatory dynamics. On rocky shores of British Columbia, large-scale field experiments altered the densities of predatory sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus), causing shifts in the location of the lower vertical boundaries of their prey, sea mussels (Mytilus californianus).

Thoracic omentalization for long-term management of neoplastic pleural effusion in a cat.

Case Description: An 11-year-old neutered female domestic longhair cat was evaluated because of a 1-week history of progressive dyspnea, signs of depression, and loss of appetite. A histiocytic sarcoma had been excised from the mammary gland 6 weeks earlier.

Clinical Findings: Physical examination findings were consistent with pleural effusion, and thoracic and abdominal radiography and ultrasonography revealed pleural effusion, a thoracic mass involving the aorta and pulmonary artery, and a caudal abdominal mass that most likely represented enlarged iliac lymph nodes.

Contemporary technique of intraoperative 3-dimensional ultrasonography-guided transperineal prostate cryotherapy.

Successful cryotherapy of the prostate for neoplasms relies on imaging to achieve good oncological outcomes with minimal complications. Traditional prostatic cryotherapy relies on 2-dimensional ultrasonography (2DUS) guidance, which often makes it difficult to track the passage of needles in an oblique plane. We describe our initial 3-dimensional ultrasonography (3DUS) system, and the subsequent improvements that have been made during the last 10 years.

Upper-room ultraviolet light and negative air ionization to prevent tuberculosis transmission.

Background: Institutional tuberculosis (TB) transmission is an important public health problem highlighted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the emergence of multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant TB. Effective TB infection control measures are urgently needed. We evaluated the efficacy of upper-room ultraviolet (UV) lights and negative air ionization for preventing airborne TB transmission using a guinea pig air-sampling model to measure the TB infectiousness of ward air.

Transferability and characterization of nine microsatellite markers for the tropical tree species Tabebuia roseo-alba.

Microsatellite loci that were previously developed in the tropical tree Tabebuia aurea were used for the genetic analysis of Tabebuia roseo-alba populations. Nine of 10 simple sequence repeat markers were amplified, and the polymorphism was assessed in 58 individuals sampled from two stands in southeastern Brazil. All loci were polymorphic with Mendelian inheritance.

Schwannoma of the Colon.

Schwannomas are neoplasms originating from Schwann cells, which are the cells forming nerve sheaths. These neoplasms generally involve peripheral nerves. They rarely affect the gastrointestinal tract and primary colon involvement is extremely rare.

Epithelioid hemangioma of the colon: a case report.

Context: Epithelioid hemangioma or angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia is an uncommon benign vascular neoplasm that is usually located on the face or neck. Exceptionally, it has been described affecting the colon, with only two such cases described in the worldwide literature. The aim here was to present a case of primary epithelioid hemangioma of the sigmoid colon with confirmation by immunohistochemical examination.

Evaluation of the pediatric craniocervical junction on MDCT.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to establish normal values on MDCT images for the measurement of various craniocervical junction relationships in children and to address discrepancies in the literature based on radiographic values.

Materials And Methods: Accepted methods of evaluating the craniocervical junction were used to calculate normal values in 117 normal children on MDCT images with multiplanar reconstructions. The basion-axial interval, basion-dens interval, Powers ratio, atlantodental interval, and atlantooccipital interval were measured in each patient and compared with accepted data based on radiographs.

[Incidence and characteristics of adult-onset asthma].

Objective: To determine the incidence of adult-onset asthma, along with lung function and immunologic characteristics, causes, and clinical course of the disease.

Patients And Methods: After identifying incident cases of asthma among adult residents of the district of North Barcelona, Spain, we proceeded to characterize the disease using a questionnaire, lung function tests, and skin allergy tests. Patients with an occupation associated with asthma, wheezing at work, and/or sensitization to workplace allergens were considered as having occupational asthma.

The infectiousness of tuberculosis patients coinfected with HIV.

Background: The current understanding of airborne tuberculosis (TB) transmission is based on classic 1950s studies in which guinea pigs were exposed to air from a tuberculosis ward. Recently we recreated this model in Lima, Perú, and in this paper we report the use of molecular fingerprinting to investigate patient infectiousness in the current era of HIV infection and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB.

Methods And Findings: All air from a mechanically ventilated negative-pressure HIV-TB ward was exhausted over guinea pigs housed in an airborne transmission study facility on the roof.

Evaluation by computerized morphometry of histopathological alterations of the colon wall in segments with and without intestinal transit in rats.

Purpose: To evaluate histopathological alterations of the colon wall in segments with and without intestinal transit, by computer-assisted imaging, and to correlate these with the length of time diversion.

Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were subjected to intestinal transit diversion by a proximal colostomy and distal mucosa fistula. The animals were divided into three experimental groups according to how long after the initial surgical procedure they were sacrificed: six, twelve and eighteen weeks.

Analysis of oxidative DNA damage in patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to measure the levels of oxidative DNA damage in cells isolated from the colon mucosa in patients with colorectal cancer and to compare normal and neoplastic tissues and make correlations with anatomopathologic variables.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-three patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were studied. The oxidative DNA damage was evaluated by means of the alkaline version of the comet assay.

Tumor cavitation during therapy with antiangiogenesis agents in patients with lung cancer.

Purpose: Treatment of lung cancer patients with antiangiogenesis agents is a new promising paradigm. Tumor cavitation is frequently noted in these patients, but the clinical significance of this finding has not been fully determined. Our purposes were to evaluate the frequency, imaging characteristics, and clinical outcome of patients receiving antiangiogenesis agents who develop tumor cavitation, and correlate these findings with therapy related adverse events, especially hemoptysis.

Patterns of treatment for restless legs syndrome in primary care in the United Kingdom.

Background: The dopamine agonists pramipexole and ropinirole are licensed for the treatment of moderate to severe idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) in Europe and the United States. In addition, various drugs that are not approved for this indication have been used for symptomatic treatment of RLS, including analgesics, quinine, and anxiolytics.

Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to describe patterns of treatment of newly diagnosed RLS, including treatment effectiveness and resource utilization, in primary care in the United Kingdom.

Spreading of a corepressor linked to action of long-range repressor hairy.

Transcriptional repressor proteins play key roles in the control of gene expression in development. For the Drosophila embryo, the following two functional classes of repressors have been described: short-range repressors such as Knirps that locally inhibit the activity of enhancers and long-range repressors such as Hairy that can dominantly inhibit distal elements. Several long-range repressors interact with Groucho, a conserved corepressor that is homologous to mammalian TLE proteins.

Chemokine receptor 2 blockade prevents asthma in a cynomolgus monkey model.

The pathophysiology of asthma is characterized by accumulation and activation of several cell types in the lung, which correlates with coordinated production of specific cytokines and chemokines. To study the effect of selective CCR2 chemokine receptor blockade on leukocyte recruitment to the lung and on bronchial function, we used a nonhuman primate model of allergic airway disease that closely resembles human asthma. Allergic cynomolgus monkeys were treated with the antagonist anti-CCR2 (CCR2-05) monoclonal antibody and then challenged with Ascaris suum antigen; the effect of antibody treatment on macrophage and eosinophil infiltration was determined.

A rubella serosurvey in postpartum women in the three regions of Peru.

Objective: To determine the proportion of postpartum women aged 15-49 in Peru who are susceptible to rubella, in order to help address strategies to eliminate rubella and to prevent congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in the country.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted during March and April 2003 in six main regional hospitals, in the three geographic regions (coast, mountain, and jungle) of Peru. For the postpartum women who provided written informed consent, a questionnaire was administered and a blood specimen was collected.

Use of an indwelling pleural catheter for the management of recurrent chylothorax in patients with cancer.

Background: Recurrent chylothorax is a debilitating condition. We describe the usefulness of an indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) in the palliative management of recurrent symptomatic chylothorax in patients with cancer relapse or progressive disease despite adequate treatment.

Methods: In 10 years, 5,594 patients underwent 8,498 pleural procedures at our institution.

[Cardiovascular disease as a current threat of older women. Relation to estrogens].

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women around the world. Cardiovascular disease risk increases after the menopause which may be related to metabolic and hormonal changes. The decline in ovarian function with menopause is associated with spontaneous increases in proinflammatory cytokines.