Using conventional fluorescent markers for far-field fluorescence localization nanoscopy allows resolution in the 10-nm range.

We present a novel technique of far-field localization nanoscopy combining spectral precision distance microscopy with widely used fluorochromes like the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) derivatives eGFP, EmGFP, Yellow Fluorescent Protein (YFP) and eYFP, synthetic dyes like Alexa 488 and Alexa 568, as well as fluoresceine derivates. Spectral precision distance microscopy allows the surpassing of conventional resolution limits in fluorescence far-field microscopy by precise object localization after the optical isolation of single signals in time. Based on the principles of this technique, our novel nanoscopic method was realized for laser optical precision localization and image reconstruction with highly enhanced optical resolution in intact cells.

Conception of an image data base for cell nuclei and geometric algorithms for diagnosis and therapy monitoring.

Parameters of the genome architecture of cell nuclei like copy number changes of genes or numerical and structural aberrations of chromosomes displayed by changes of size, shape, form and geometric arrangement of the related territories and domains play an important role in tumour diagnosis and monitoring of tumour therapy. We have defined data structures for such parameters, accompanied by meta data describing cell biology and microscopy protocols, and developed algorithms to deduce geometric data from microscopic raw images of fluorescently labelled cell nuclei. The statistical evaluation of nucleus geometry and architecture data is a valuable aid for diagnostic decisions and monitoring of cancer development, as indicated by several research case studies.

Effects of sex hormone therapy on interhemispheric crosstalk in postmenopausal women.

Evidence exists that fluctuating levels of sex hormones affect interhemispheric interaction in women during the menstrual cycle. The present study investigated whether interhemispheric interaction is susceptible to direct hormonal manipulations via hormone therapy (HT). Sixty-eight postmenopausal women who received HT either with estrogen alone (n = 15), an estrogen-gestagen combination (n = 22) or without HT (n = 31) were investigated.

Dissociation of auditory and visual straight ahead in hemianopia.

The perception of body orientation in space can be significantly affected by unilateral brain damage. One syndrome associated with such a disorder is homonymous hemianopia, resulting from lesions in postchiasmatic afferent visual pathways. Several studies in patients with hemianopia have shown that their subjective straight ahead is shifted to the anopic (contralesional) side.

Diagnostic performance of the ARCHITECT C-Peptide immunoassay.

Background: Measurement of C-peptide under standardized conditions provides a sensitive and well-established assessment of beta-cell function. We describe the analytical and clinical validation of an automated, microparticle-based chemiluminescent immunoassay method. The assay is designed to measure C-peptide in human serum, plasma and urine.

Spatial allelic imbalance of BCL2 genes and chromosome 18 territories in nonneoplastic and neoplastic cervical squamous epithelium.

Several studies suggest a correlation between genome architecture and gene function. To elucidate mechanisms of gene positioning during cell differentiation and malignant transformation we investigated the nuclear positions of the BCL2 alleles and chromosome 18 territories in different layers of nonneoplastic cervical squamous epithelium and cervical squamous carcinomas in relation to gene expression. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and three-dimensional (3D) image analysis using tissue sections revealed that one BCL2 allele was located more peripherally than the other one in nuclei of the basal layer of nonneoplastic epithelium.

Evaluation of the Abbott ARCHITECT Toxo IgM assay.

Development of the ARCHITECT Toxo IgM assay has been done to assist the clinician in acute Toxoplasma gondii infection detection, especially in pregnant women. Its use, in conjunction with ARCHITECT Toxo IgG and Toxo Avidity assays, will provide an array of assays particularly useful in the monitoring of pregnant females to determine the risk of maternal transmission of the parasite. Specificity results from 2 testing sites, using populations of pregnant females, hospital patients, and blood donors, demonstrated that the assay has an overall resolved relative specificity of 99.

The role of meiotic cohesin REC8 in chromosome segregation in gamma irradiation-induced endopolyploid tumour cells.

Escape from mitotic catastrophe and generation of endopolyploid tumour cells (ETCs) represents a potential survival strategy of tumour cells in response to genotoxic treatments. ETCs that resume the mitotic cell cycle have reduced ploidy and are often resistant to these treatments. In search for a mechanism for genome reduction, we previously observed that ETCs express meiotic proteins among which REC8 (a meiotic cohesin component) is of particular interest, since it favours reductional cell division in meiosis.

Evidence for a change in the nuclear mass surface with the discovery of the most neutron-rich nuclei with 17

The results of measurements of the production of neutron-rich nuclei by the fragmentation of a 76Ge beam are presented. The cross sections were measured for a large range of nuclei including 15 new isotopes that are the most neutron-rich nuclides of the elements chlorine to manganese (50Cl, 53Ar, ;{55,56}K, ;{57,58}Ca, ;{59,60,61}Sc, ;{62,63}Ti, ;{65,66}V, 68Cr, 70Mn). The enhanced cross sections of several new nuclei relative to a simple thermal evaporation framework, previously shown to describe similar production cross sections, indicates that nuclei in the region around 62Ti might be more stable than predicted by current mass models and could be an indication of a new island of inversion similar to that centered on 31Na.

Development of fully automated determination of marker-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity based on the avidity competition assay format: application for Abbott Architect cytomegalovirus and Toxo IgG Avidity assays.

Determination of the avidity of immunoglobulin G (IgG) directed against a specific marker has become an established diagnostic tool for identifying or excluding acute infections with pathogens. A novel assay format termed AVIcomp (avidity competition based on mass action) circumventing the conventional chaotropic format has been developed for determination of the avidity of marker-specific IgG in patient specimens. Its applications for cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Toxoplasma gondii are presented.

Production and beta decay of rp-process nuclei 96Cd, 98In, and 100Sn.

The beta-decay properties of the N=Z nuclei 96Cd, 98In, and 100Sn have been studied. These nuclei were produced at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory by fragmenting a 120 MeV/nucleon 112Sn primary beam on a Be target. The resulting radioactive beam was filtered in the A1900 and the newly commissioned Radio Frequency Fragment Separator to achieve a purity level suitable for decay studies.

Alterations in voluntary movement execution in Huntington's disease are related to the dominant motor system: evidence from event-related potentials.

Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant neurogenetic disorder leading to striatal atrophy, characterized by involuntary movements. Voluntary movements also deteriorate, but the neurophysiological mechanisms are less understood. We investigated voluntary movement execution and its neural correlates by means of movement-related potentials (MRPs) in symptomatic HD (HD), presymptomatic HD (pHD) and controls.

Sex differences in left-right confusion depend on hemispheric asymmetry.

Numerous studies have reported that women believe they are more susceptible to left-right confusion than men. Indeed, some studies have also found sex differences in behavioural tasks. It has been suggested that women have more difficulties with left-right discrimination, because they are less lateralised than men and a lower degree of lateralisation might lead to more left-right confusion (LRC).

Afferent nerve sensitivity is decreased by an iNOS-dependent mechanism during indomethacin-induced inflammation in the murine jejunum in vitro.

Evidence exists that visceral afferent sensitivity is subject to regulatory mechanisms. We hypothesized that afferent sensitivity is decreased in the small intestine during intestinal inflammation by an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-dependent mechanism. C57BL/6 mice were injected twice with vehicle or 60 mg kg(-1) indomethacin subcutaneously to induce intestinal inflammation.

Estradiol modulates functional brain organization during the menstrual cycle: an analysis of interhemispheric inhibition.

According to the hypothesis of progesterone-mediated interhemispheric decoupling (Hausmann and Güntürkün, 2000), functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs), which are stable in men and change during the menstrual cycle in women, are generated by interhemispheric inhibition of the dominant on the nondominant hemisphere. The change of lateralization during the menstrual cycle in women might indicate that sex hormones play an important role in modulating FCAs. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the role of estradiol in determining cyclic changes of interhemispheric inhibition.

Neuronal encoding of meaning: establishing category-selective response patterns in the avian 'prefrontal cortex'.

Forebrain association areas interweave perceived stimuli with acquired representations of own actions and their outcome. Often, relevant stimuli come in a bewildering variety of shapes and sizes and we slowly have to learn to group them into meaningful categories. Therefore, the aim of the present study was twofold: First, to reveal how single units in the pigeon's nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), a functional analogue of the mammalian prefrontal cortex (PFC), encode stimuli that differ in visual features but not in behavioral relevance.

Estrogen therapy affects right hemisphere functioning in postmenopausal women.

It has been suggested that hormone therapy (HT) in postmenopausal women differentially affects verbal and visuo-spatial abilities which mainly rely on left hemisphere (LH) and right hemisphere (RH) functioning, respectively. Thus, it seems likely that HT-related effects on cognition are driven by associated hormonal changes and their impact on functional brain organization, and functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs) in particular. The present study investigated HT-related effects on FCAs in sixty-seven postmenopausal women who received hormone therapy either with estrogen (E) alone (n=14), an E-gestagen combination (n=22) or without HT (control group, n=31).

Perception of stationary and moving sound following unilateral cortectomy.

The perception of motion is an essential prerequisite to responding adequately to the dynamic aspects of sensory information in the environment. The neural substrates of auditory motion processing are, at present, still a matter of debate. It has been hypothesized that motion information is, as in the visual system, processed separately from other aspects of auditory information, such as stationary location.

Interactive effects of sex hormones and gender stereotypes on cognitive sex differences--a psychobiosocial approach.

Biological and social factors have been shown to affect cognitive sex differences. For example, several studies have found that sex hormones have activating effects on sex-sensitive tasks. On the other hand, it has been shown that gender stereotypes can influence the cognitive performance of (gender-) stereotyped individuals.

Prolonged fever following kidney biopsy: a case report.

This case report describes a patient with prolonged fever following a kidney biopsy. Workup disclosed a large perirenal and retroperitoneal hematoma. Neither imaging nor blood cultures supported an infective cause of his fever.

Gene expression profiles of mucosal fibroblasts from strictured and nonstrictured areas of patients with Crohn's disease.

Background: A frequent complication of Crohn's disease (CD) is the formation of strictures and stenoses. Strictures are characterized by a fibrosis of the bowel wall, induced by abnormal wound healing. Functional changes of colonic lamina propria fibroblasts (CLPF) reflected by increased proliferation and collagen synthesis, increased contractility or reduced migratory potential, indicate a change of the phenotype.

A case of heterogeneous breast cancer with clonally expanded T-Cells in the HER2+ and metastasis of the HER2- tumor cells.

We report a case of an invasive ductal breast carcinoma with significant heterogeneity: a HER-2+ tumor component was densely infiltrated by T-cells, whereas the HER2- tumor component, including two axillary lymph node metastases, showed much fewer tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. Array comparative genomic hybridization of dissected tumor cells from both components revealed many shared chromosomal aberrations but also unique alterations of the HER2+ tumor cell population besides HER2 amplification. We found a clonally dominated T-cell receptor rearrangement of the tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in the HER2+, but not in the HER2- tumor component.

Performance characteristics of the new ARCHITECT Toxo IgG and Toxo IgG Avidity assays.

The ARCHITECT Toxo IgG and IgG Avidity assays have been developed as a fully automated panel for immune status determination and acute infection exclusion. Resolved relative specificity and sensitivity of the ARCHITECT Toxo IgG assay were 99.6% (1359/1365) and 99.