In vivo dosimetry for estimation of effective doses in multislice CT coronary angiography.

In vivo dosimetry represents a technique that has been widely employed to evaluate the dose to the patient mainly in radiotherapy. Considering the increment in dose to the population due to new high-dose multislice CT examinations, such as coronary angiography, it is becoming important to more accurately know the dose to the patient. The desire to know patient dose extends even to radiological examinations.

Age dependence of the human skeletal muscle stem cell in forming muscle tissue.

Human skeletal muscle stem cells from healthy donors aged 2-82 years (n = 13) and from three children suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) were implanted into soleus muscles of immunoincompetent mice and were also expanded in vitro until senescence. Growth of implanted cells was quantified by structural features and by the amount of human DNA present in a muscle. Proliferative capacity in vitro and in vivo was inversely related to age of the donor.

Ageing affects the differentiation potential of human myoblasts.

The ageing process causes a reduction in the regenerative potential of skeletal muscles eventually leading to diminished muscle strength. In this work we investigated if ageing affects the excitation-contraction coupling mechanism in human myotubes derived from human satellite cells, thereby contributing to the loss in muscle strength in the aged. To test this hypothesis, satellite cells from differently aged donors were differentiated in vitro and the maturation of the excitation-contraction mechanism was followed by the videoimaging technique monitoring the efficiency of such a mechanism in generating intracellular calcium transients.

[Effective dose in X-ray examinations: comparison between spiral CT and urography in the study of renal colic].

Aim: The aim of this study was to calculate the effective dose in patients with renal colic undergoing spiral CT examination and IVU examination, and to verify the ability of the systems to measure the effective dose.

Material And Methods: Dose measurements were carried out for both diagnostic techniques by employing an anthropomorphic phantom with thermoluminescence detectors (TLDs) fitted inside the phantom. The data so obtained were compared with dose estimations based on published tables, which allow to obtain the effective dose on the basis of the experimental value of common dose indicators, the performance of the equipment and the setting of the acquisition parameters for such examinations.

Inhibition of trophoblast adhesion to endothelial cells by the sera of women with recurrent spontaneous abortions.

Problem: May anti-phospholipid or other autoantibodies interfere with trophoblast-endothelial cells interaction in women with unexplained pregnancy losses?

Methods Of Study: The sera of 72 women with recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA) containing antibodies to endothelial cells (28), trophoblast (14), and cardiolipin (10) or lacking antibodies (25), and 26 controls were examined in an inhibition assay of trophoblast adhesion to endothelial cells using an ELISA based on the recognition of trophoblast by antibodies to cytokeratin.

Results: Adhesion of trophoblast to endothelial cells was time- and dose-dependent. Patients and control sera inhibited trophoblast adhesion with mean values of 37% and 7%, respectively.