Ductal Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast.

BACKGROUND: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is detected more often since the advent of mammography. A standardized pathologic staging and grading system does not exist, but nuclear grade is assuming greater importance. The history of DCIS is long, and its treatment is a controversial issue in breast cancer today.

Antiangiogenic effects of the oral administration of liquid cartilage extract in humans.

Background: The antiangiogenic properties of shark cartilage extracts have been demonstrated in animal models but there are no data in human subjects.

Materials And Methods: A placebo or one of two doses of a liquid shark cartilage extract was orally administered daily, from Day 1 to Day 23 of the study protocol, to 29 healthy male volunteers randomized into three groups. On Day 12, a polyvinyl alcohol sponge threaded in a perforated silicone tubing was inserted subcutaneously on the anterior side of the arm and removed on Day 23.

Differential expression of connexin43 and desmin defines two subpopulations of medial smooth muscle cells in the human internal mammary artery.

Upregulation of connexin43-gap junctions is associated with transition of contractile vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to the synthetic state. To determine whether phenotypically distinct subpopulations of medial SMCs differentially express connexin43, we investigated the human distal internal mammary artery, a structurally heterogeneous vessel with features ranging from elastic to elastomuscular to muscular. Immunoconfocal microscopy combined with quantitative analysis and complemented by in situ hybridization showed that SMCs in the elastic medial regions expressed high levels of connexin43 but low levels of desmin, whereas those of muscular medial regions expressed low levels of connexin43 but high levels of desmin.

Chamber-related differences in connexin expression in the human heart.

Electrical coupling in the heart is mediated by gap junctions, aggregates of cell-to-cell channels composed of connexins. The principal cardiac gap-junctional connexin, connexin43 (Cx43), is reduced in diseased human myocardium that is prone to arrhythmia. Three additional connexin isoforms, Cx40, Cx45 and Cx37, of distinctive functional capacities in vitro, are expressed in cardiovascular cells, but our knowledge of their expression patterns in the human heart is fragmentary.

Connexin make-up of endothelial gap junctions in the rat pulmonary artery as revealed by immunoconfocal microscopy and triple-label immunogold electron microscopy.

Integration of vascular endothelial function relies on multiple signaling mechanisms, including direct cell-cell communication through gap junctions. Gap junction proteins expressed in the endothelium include connexin37, connexin40, and connexin43. To investigate whether individual endothelial cells in vivo express all three connexin types and, if so, whether multiple connexins are assembled into the same gap junction plaque, we used affinity-purified connexin-specific antibodies raised in three different species to permit multiple-label immunoconfocal and immunoelectron microscopy in the rat main pulmonary artery.

Individual gap junction plaques contain multiple connexins in arterial endothelium.

Gap-junctional intercellular communication in endothelial cells is implicated in the coordination of growth, migration, and vasomotor responses. Up to 3 connexin types, connexin40 (Cx40), Cx37, and Cx43 may be expressed in vascular endothelium according to vascular site, species, and physiological conditions. To establish how these connexins are organized at the level of the individual endothelial gap junction, we used affinity-purified connexin-specific antibodies raised in 3 different species to permit double and triple immunolabeling in combination with confocal and electron microscopy.

Blood transfusion practice in Belgium. As assessed by a national survey.

In April 1995 the Ministry of Public Health invited all Belgian hospitals to participate to a survey on the use of blood transfusion. The questionnaire presented two parts, the first one devoted to products transfused and the second one to the transfusion organisation in the hospital. 71 hospitals answered: 7 university and 64 general hospitals.

[Re-evaluation of immunomodulator treatments for recurrent abortions].

Immunotherapy of spontaneous recurrent abortion is still a matter of controversy. Since 1985, 117 patients were treated in our center. Transfusions of paternal leucocytes (PL) were given to 56 patients and intravenous immunoglobulins (i.

Antiangiogenic properties of a novel shark cartilage extract: potential role in the treatment of psoriasis.

Background: A number of inflammatory and immune diseases are associated with vascular changes. Psoriasis, as an example, is a common inflammatory skin disease with dilation of capillaries as an early histological change. In more developed psoriatic lesions there is proliferation of blood vessels and neovascularization.

Dehydroepiandrosterone protects low density lipoproteins against peroxidation by free radicals produced by gamma-radiolysis of ethanol-water mixtures.

Oxidized low density lipoproteins (LDL) are believed to play a central role in the events that initiate atherosclerosis. Antioxidants have been shown to decrease the oxidation of LDL, leading to the diminution of atherosclerosis. Since it is well-known that decreased levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) are linked to the development of atherosclerosis, we studied the modulation of the oxidation of LDL by DHEA.

[Multiple system atrophy--a neurodegenerative disease entity].

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a nosological entity. Main clinical manifestations are parkinsonism, pyramidal signs, cerebellar signs and autonomic dysfunction. Postmortem studies of patients who while alive were diagnosed as having idiopathic Parkinson's disease show approximately 8% as having MSA at autopsy.

Identification of two further gap-junctional proteins, connexin40 and connexin45, in human myometrial smooth muscle cells at term.

The powerful synchronous contractions of the uterus in labor depend on electrical coupling of myometrial smooth muscle cells by gap junctions. In humans and other mammals, gap junctions are scarce in the myometrium of the non-pregnant uterus, but become abundant at term and/or with the onset of labor. Previous work has shown that the gap-junctional protein (connexin) expressed by human myometrial smooth muscle cells is connexin43, the same connexin type that predominates in cardiac muscle.

Downregulation of immunodetectable connexin43 and decreased gap junction size in the pathogenesis of chronic hibernation in the human left ventricle.

Background: The regional wall motion impairment and predisposition to arrhythmias in human ventricular hibernation may plausibly result from abnormal intercellular propagation of the depolarizing wave front. This study investigated the hypothesis that altered patterns of expression of connexin43, the principal gap junctional protein responsible for passive conduction of the cardiac action potential, contribute to the pathogenesis of hibernation.

Methods And Results: Patients with poor ventricular function and severe coronary artery disease underwent thallium scanning and MRI to predict regions of normally perfused, reversibly ischemic, or hibernating myocardium.

Early treatment of Parkinson's disease with cabergoline delays the onset of motor complications. Results of a double-blind levodopa controlled trial. The PKDS009 Study Group.

This multicentre randomised double-blind 3- to 5-year trial was designed to assess whether initial therapy with cabergoline alone or in combination with levodopa prevents or delays the occurrence of long term motor complications in patients with early Parkinson's disease. Patients eligible for study inclusion (n = 412) had early idiopathic Parkinson's disease (Hoehn and Yahr stages 1 to 3) and had received no previous treatment with levodopa, selegiline or dopamine agonists. Patients were randomised to receive either cabergoline (0.

Developmental pattern of expression of NPDC-1 and its interaction with E2F-1 suggest a role in the control of proliferation and differentiation of neural cells.

We have previously identified NPDC-1, a gene specifically expressed in neural cells and involved in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation. In the present study, we have investigated the expression of this gene during mouse development and the interactions of the NPDC-1 protein with cell cycle regulatory proteins. The data show that NPDC-1 mRNA begins to be expressed in a variety of neural structures when the precursors enter into their terminal differentiation.

Connexin45 expression is preferentially associated with the ventricular conduction system in mouse and rat heart.

Cardiac myocytes are electrically coupled by gap junctions, clusters of low-resistance intercellular channels composed of connexins. Variations in the quantities and spatial distribution of different connexin types have been implicated in regional differentiation of electrophysiological properties in the heart. Although independent studies have demonstrated that connexin43 is abundant in working ventricular myocardium and that connexin40 is preferentially expressed in the atrioventricular conduction system of a number of species, information on the spatial distribution of connexin45 in the heart is limited to data obtained using an antibody raised to a single peptide sequence.

Upregulation of connexin43 gap junctions between smooth muscle cells after balloon catheter injury in the rat carotid artery.

Phenotypic transformation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to the synthetic state in vitro and in human coronary atherosclerosis is reported to be associated with upregulation of connexin43 gap junctions. To determine whether cellular interactions mediated by gap junctions participate in the phenotypic transformation of SMCs in arterial injury and disease in general and to establish the spatial and temporal pattern of any such change in relation to neointimal development, we investigated SMC connexin43 gap junction expression during vascular healing in the rat carotid artery after balloon catheter injury. Quantitative immunoconfocal microscopy was applied to localize and to quantify connexin43 gap junctions 1, 3, 9, and 14 days after injury.

Tolcapone added to levodopa in stable parkinsonian patients: a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Tolcapone in Parkinson's Disease Study Group II (TIPS II).

The primary objective of this study was to assess the effect of tolcapone on levodopa dosage in parkinsonian patients whose "wearing-off" phenomenon has been controlled with more frequent levodopa dosage. After a 1-week placebo run-in, 97 patients were assigned randomly to receive placebo or tolcapone 200 or 400 mg three times daily (t.i.

Long-wavelength infrared (~10-15 mm) electroluminescence from Sb-based interband cascade devices.

Electroluminescence in the long-wavelength infrared (10-15 mm) spectrum region was observed from Sb-based type-II interband cascade quantum well structures. The device structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a GaSb substrate and comprises 10 repeated periods of active regions separated by digitally graded multilayer injection regions. The devices have been operated at 300 K and 77 K, with an output optical power up to 50 nW.

Angiotensin II receptor type 1 mRNA is upregulated in atria of patients with end-stage heart failure.

There is increasing evidence that pathological changes in the myocardium during chronic heart failure (CHF) are partly regulated through the activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), an effect mediated by the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R). We examined the expression of cardiac AT1R mRNA in normal (atria, n=7; ventricle, n=3) and end-stage CHF human hearts (atria, n=8; ventricle, n=14). Tissue was snap-frozen immediately after explantation during orthotopic cardiac transplantation; control specimens were obtained from healthy donor hearts rejected for technical reasons.

Epoetin alfa facilitates presurgical autologous blood donation in non-anaemic patients scheduled for orthopaedic or cardiovascular surgery.

Patients expected to need at least three units of blood for their elective cardiovascular or orthopaedic surgery, were allocated randomly to receive intravenous (i.v.) Epoetin alfa 600 IU kg-1 (n = 27), 300 IU kg-1 (n = 30) or placebo (n = 23), on days 1, 4 and 7.