Screening for liver fibrosis by using a noninvasive biomarker in patients with diabetes.

Background & Aims: Patients with diabetes are at risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease leading to advanced fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. We examined the efficacy of a screening strategy with a noninvasive fibrosis biomarker (FibroTest) in patients with diabetes.

Methods: We prospectively studied 1131 consecutive patients without a history of liver disease seen for diabetes.

The crack tip: a nanolab for studying confined liquids.

We study the equilibrium properties of a liquid phase condensed at the nanoscale between the surfaces of a sharp crack in fused silica in a moist controlled atmosphere. The extension of the condensed phase along the fracture is measured by in situ atomic force microscopy phase imaging and it is shown to be determined by a critical distance between the opposite crack surfaces, which is an increasing function of humidity. The present technique is very promising for measuring the properties of confined liquids at the nanoscale as well as for modeling the physics and chemistry of slow crack propagation in glasses.

Rosiglitazone for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: one-year results of the randomized placebo-controlled Fatty Liver Improvement with Rosiglitazone Therapy (FLIRT) Trial.

Background & Aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a liver disease that complicates insulin-resistant states. This trial tested the efficacy and safety of rosiglitazone, an insulin-sensitizing agent, in patients with NASH.

Methods: Sixty-three patients with histologically proven NASH were randomly assigned to receive rosiglitazone (4 mg/day for the first month and 8 mg/day thereafter; n = 32) or placebo (n = 31) for 1 year.

Estrogen deficiency increases osteoclastogenesis up-regulating T cells activity: a key mechanism in osteoporosis.

Compelling evidences suggest that increased production of osteoclastogenic cytokines by activated T cells plays a relevant role in the bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency in the mouse. However, little information is available on the role of T cells in post-menopausal bone loss in humans. To investigate this issue we have assessed the production of cytokines involved in osteoclastogenesis (RANKL, TNFalpha and OPG), in vitro osteoclast (OC) formation in pre and post-menopausal women, the latter with or without osteoporosis.

In vivo isolation and characterization of stem cells with diverse phenotypes using growth factor impregnated biomatrices.

Background: The stimulation to differentiate into specific cell types for somatic stem cells is largely due to a series of internal and external signals coming from the microenvironment that surrounds the stem cell. Even though intensive research has been made, the basic mechanisms of plasticity and/or the molecules regulating stem cells proliferation and differentiation are not completely determined. Potential answers concerning the problems could be derived from the studies of stem cells in culture.

Colloidal shape controlled by molecular adsorption at liquid crystal interfaces.

The ability to control finely the structure of materials remains a central issue in colloidal science. Due to their elastic properties, liquid crystals (LC) are increasingly used to organize matter at the micrometer scale in soft composites. Textures and shapes of LC droplets are currently controlled by the competition between elasticity and anchoring, hydrodynamic flows, or external fields.

Toxoneuron nigriceps parasitization delays midgut replacement in fifth-instar Heliothis virescens larvae.

We have analyzed the effects of Toxoneuron nigriceps parasitization on the midgut development of its host Heliothis virescens. In parasitized H. virescens larvae, the midgut epithelium undergoes a complete replacement, which is qualitatively not different to that observed in synchronous unparasitized larvae, with similar temporal profiles of cell death and metabolic activity.

Determinants of the degree of functional aortic regurgitation in patients with anatomically normal aortic valve and ascending thoracic aorta aneurysm. Transoesophageal Doppler echocardiography study.

Objectives: To identify functional aortic regurgitation (FAR) determinants in patients with ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) and surgically confirmed normal aortic valve anatomy.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Non-invasive Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Department.

Recurrence of mitral regurgitation parallels the absence of left ventricular reverse remodeling after mitral repair in advanced dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of reverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling after effective mitral valve repair in advanced dilated cardiomyopathy and its impact on clinical outcome and repair durability.

Methods: Of 111 patients undergoing mitral valve repair in ischemic or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, 79 patients with no or trivial residual mitral regurgitation (MR) at discharge and with a follow-up length of at least 6 months were included in this study. Preoperatively they had 3 to 4+ functional MR, an ejection fraction of 0.

Evolution of tricuspid regurgitation after mitral valve repair for functional mitral regurgitation in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Objective: To assess the evolution of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients submitted to mitral repair for functional mitral regurgitation (MR).

Methods: Ninety-one DCM patients (mean age 61+/-11.3) submitted to MV repair (+/-tricuspid repair) for functional MR were included.

A hedgehog homolog is involved in muscle formation and organization of Sepia officinalis (mollusca) mantle.

Our study focuses on the possible involvement of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway in the differentiation of striated muscle fibres in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) mantle. We show here that both an hh-homolog signalling molecule and its receptor Patched (Ptc) are expressed in a specific population of myoblasts which differentiates into the radial fast fibres. To evaluate the functional significance of hh expression in developing cuttlefish, we inhibited the Hedgehog signalling pathway by means of cyclopamine treatment in cuttlefish embryos.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal cancer: HIPEC?

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is a frequent terminal evolution from colorectal cancer. At the time of diagnosis of colon malignancies, PC affects approximately 10% of the patients [1]. Medical oncologists and gastrointestinal surgeons had considered it to be an untreatable condition for its unfavorable prognosis with a median survival of 6-9 months [1], suitable only for palliative treatment.

[One-year follow-up in real clinical practice conditions of type 2 diabetic patients treated with rosiglitazone: the Avantage study].

The Avandia, tolérance à grande échelle (Avantage) study was an observational study conducted in a large cohort of type 2 diabetic patients (T2D) followed for 12 months. Its aim was to assess in real clinical practice conditions, the tolerability of rosiglitazone, an oral antidiabetic agent of the new thiazolidinedione ("glitazone") class, available in France since May 2002. Study was carried out from December 2002 to January 2005.

Autophagy in invertebrates: insights into development, regeneration and body remodeling.

Autophagy is a process in which eukaryotic cells sequester and degrade cytoplasm and organelles via the lysosomal pathway. This process allows turnover of intracellular organelles, participates in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and prevents accumulation of defective cellular structures. Increased autophagy is normally induced by environmental cues such as starvation and hormones, while excessive levels of autophagy can lead to autophagic programmed cell death (PCD), with features that differ from those of the apoptotic PCD process.

Larval anatomy and structure of absorbing epithelia in the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae).

The present work describes Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) larval anatomy and development, focusing on time-related changes of body structure and cell ultrastructure, especially of the epithelial layers involved in nutrient absorption. Newly hatched 1st instar larvae of A. ervi are characterised by gut absence and a compact cluster of cells makes up their body.

Risedronate reduces osteoclast precursors and cytokine production in postmenopausal osteoporotic women.

Unlabelled: This paper studies the effect of oral risedronate on osteoclast precursors, osteoclast formation, and cytokine production in 25 osteoporotic women. Risedronate is effective in reducing the number of osteoclast precursors, their formation, vitality, and activity and the level of RANKL and TNF-alpha in cultures.

Introduction: Bisphosphonates inhibit bone resorption by acting against osteoclasts.

Using ultrasound to estimate brain size in the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris cuvier in vivo.

Ultrasound imaging was applied, for the first time, in the examination of the central nervous system of the cephalopod mollusc Octopus vulgaris, an invertebrate. Goals of this study were: i. to reveal and measure the cerebral masses in vivo, in their anatomical position; ii.

Sunitinib: bridging present and future cancer treatment.

Tyrosine kinase receptors (RTKs) are a heterogeneous group of transmembrane proteins involved in signal transduction. These receptors are expressed in many different cells and regulate cellular growth, differentiation and angiogenesis. Overexpression and/or the structural alteration of different RTKs classes are generally associated to cancer and, when RTKs-mediated signal transduction pathways are abnormally activated, generate cancer growth, angiogenesis and metastatization.

Alcohol septal ablation versus surgical myectomy: a patient with obstructive HCM.

Background: A 42-year-old woman with a 20-year history of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was referred for alcohol septal ablation following a worsening of symptoms, which had persisted despite medical treatment.

Investigations: Physical examination, electrocardiography, rest-exercise Doppler and two-dimensional echocardiography, coronary angiography, intracoronary myocardial contrast echocardiography, and intraoperative transesophageal and epicardial echocardiography.

Diagnosis: Symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Lepidopteran larval midgut during prepupal instar: digestion or self-digestion?

Programmed cell death (PCD) is crucial in body restructuring during metamorphosis of holometabolous insects (those that have a pupal stage between the final larval and adult stages). Besides apoptosis, an increasing body of evidence indicates that in several insect species programmed autophagy also plays a key role in these developmental processes. We have recently characterized the midgut replacement process in Heliothis virescens larva, during the prepupal phase, responsible for the formation of a new pupal midgut.

Vertebrate rod photoreceptors express both BK and IK calcium-activated potassium channels, but only BK channels are involved in receptor potential regulation.

In salamander rods, Ca(2+)-activated K(+) current (I(KCa)) provides an effective "clamp" of the dark membrane potential to its normal resting level. By a combination of electrophysiological, pharmacological, and immunohistochemical approaches, we show that salamander rods functionally express large-conductance Ca(2+)- and voltage-dependent potassium (BK) channel and intermediate-conductance Ca(2+)-dependent potassium (IK) channel, but not small-conductance Ca(2+)-dependent potassium channel (SK) subtypes. Application of 100 nM iberiotoxin and 100 nM clotrimazole reduced net I(KCa) to 36% and 63%, respectively, whereas the current was unaffected by application of 1 microM apamin.

Programmed cell death and stem cell differentiation are responsible for midgut replacement in Heliothis virescens during prepupal instar.

We have analyzed midgut development during the fifth larval instar in the tobacco budworm Heliothis virescens. In prepupae, the midgut formed during larval instars undergoes a complete renewal process. This drastic remodeling of the alimentary canal involves the destruction of the old cells by programmed cell-death mechanisms (autophagy and apoptosis).