Patch-clamp recordings of rat neurons from acute brain slices of the somatosensory cortex during magnetic stimulation.

Although transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a popular tool for both basic research and clinical applications, its actions on nerve cells are only partially understood. We have previously predicted, using compartmental modeling, that magnetic stimulation of central nervous system neurons depolarized the soma followed by initiation of an action potential in the initial segment of the axon. The simulations also predict that neurons with low current threshold are more susceptible to magnetic stimulation.

Magneto-optical system for high speed real time imaging.

A new magneto-optical system has been developed to expand the range of high speed real time magneto-optical imaging. A special source for the external magnetic field has also been designed, using a pump solenoid to rapidly excite the field coil. Together with careful modifications of the cryostat, to reduce eddy currents, ramping rates reaching 3000 T/s have been achieved.

Mini-coil for magnetic stimulation in the behaving primate.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is rapidly becoming a leading method in both cognitive neuroscience and clinical neurology. However, the cellular and network level effects of stimulation are still unclear and their study relies heavily on indirect physiological measurements in humans. Direct electrophysiological studies of the effect of magnetic stimulation on neuronal activity in behaving animals are severely limited by both the size of the stimulating coils, which affect large regions of the animal brain, and the large artifacts generated on the recording electrodes.

Endometrial pathology in postmenopausal tamoxifen treatment: comparison between gynaecologically symptomatic and asymptomatic breast cancer patients.

Aims: To evaluate whether endometrial pathology is more likely to be diagnosed in gynaecologically symptomatic rather than in gynaecologically asymptomatic postmenopausal breast cancer patients with tamoxifen treatment; and to evaluate the possible influence of various clinical factors on the incidence of endometrial pathology.

Methods: Endometrial histological findings, transvaginal ultrasonographic endometrial thickness, demographic characteristics, health habits, and risk factors for endometrial cancer were compared between 14 gynaecologically symptomatic (group I) and 224 gynaecologically asymptomatic (group II) postmenopausal breast cancer patients with tamoxifen treatment.

Results: Overall, 28.

Dose-dependent effect of tamoxifen therapy on endometrial pathologies in postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

To assess whether a higher cumulative tamoxifen dose is associated with increased incidence of various types of endometrial pathologies, we compared cumulative dose of tamoxifen treatment as well as demographic characteristics, risk factors for endometrial cancer, transvaginal ultrasonographic endometrial thickness, and various treatments for the primary breast cancer between 159 postmenopausal breast cancer tamoxifen-treated patients without endometrial pathologies (group I) and 67 similar patients with endometrial pathologies (group II). A similar comparison was made between group I patients and similar patients with proliferative endometrium (group IIa), with endometrial hyperplasia (group IIb), with endometrial polyps (group IIc), and with endometrial cancer (group IId). Overall cumulative tamoxifen dose was significantly higher in group II as compared to group I (27.