Immunohistochemical expression of bcl-2 in Dukes' stage B and C colorectal carcinoma patients: correlation with p53 and ki-67 in evaluating prognostic significance.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of bcl-2 in Dukes' stage B and stage C (AJCC/UICC stage I and III) colorectal adenocarcinomas and to examine its association with clinicopathological features, p53, ki-67 and long term outcome. Paraffin embedded specimens from 61 patients with Dukes' stage B (AJCC/UICC stage I) and 39 patients with Dukes' stage C (AJCC/UICC stage III) colorectal adenocarcinoma who were treated with surgery were assessed. We used immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of bcl-2, p53 and ki-67 with a five-year follow-up.

Loss of cardioprotection induced by ischemic preconditioning after an initial ischemic period in isolated rat hearts.

Background: The beneficial effect of ischemic preconditioning (PC) has been extensively studied in normal hearts but its effects on diseased hearts remain largely unknown. The effect of PC in the already ischemic myocardium has not been previously studied, although ischemia in varying intervals, which is difficult to assess, is often encountered in clinical practice.

Objective: To investigate whether the cardioprotective effect of PC is preserved when it is applied after a period of ischemia of varying duration.