New insights to vascular smooth muscle cell and pericyte differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells in vitro.

Objective: The molecular mechanisms that regulate pericyte differentiation are not well understood, partly because of the lack of well-characterized in vitro systems that model this process. In this article, we develop a mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell-based angiogenesis/vasculogenesis assay and characterize the system for vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) and pericyte differentiation.

Methods And Results: ES cells that were cultured for 5 days on OP9 stroma cells upregulated their transcription of VSMC and pericyte selective genes.

Availability, indications, and technical performance of computed tomographic colonography: a national survey.

Purpose: To determine the availability, indications, and technique of computed tomographic colonography (CTC) in Sweden and to investigate opinions on its future role in colon imaging.

Material And Methods: In May 2004, a questionnaire on CTC was mailed to all Departments of Radiology in Sweden, and one year later a telephone interview was conducted with the departments that intended to start a CTC service.

Results: Ninety-nine departments (83%) answered the questionnaire, indicating that 23/ 99 (23.

Immediate versus deferred radiological investigation after acute renal colic: a prospective randomized study.

Objective: The timing of radiological assessment after acute renal colic is controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of immediate versus deferred radiological imaging and to compare morbidity rates after an attack of acute renal colic.

Material And Methods: Between September 2001 and December 2002 all 686 patients with acute renal colic attending our university hospital were registered.

Proteomic analysis of protein expression in prostate cancer.

Objective: To investigate protein expression in prostate cancer using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry.

Study Design: Cells were collected from 29 peripheral zone tumors and from benign tissue by scraping cut surfaces of radical prostatectomy specimens. Samples were suspended in a medium with protease inhibitors and prepared for 2-DE.

Back pain and degenerative abnormalities in the spine of young elite divers: a 5-year follow-up magnetic resonance imaging study.

Several studies have been published on disc degeneration among young athletes in sports with great demands on the back, but few on competitive divers; however, there are no long-term follow-up studies. Twenty elite divers between 10 and 21 years of age, with the highest possible national ranking, were selected at random without knowledge of previous or present back injuries or symptoms for an MRI study of the thoraco-lumbar spine in a 5-year longitudinal study. The occurrence of MRI abnormalities and their correlation with back pain were evaluated.

Ultrasound assessment of detrusor thickness in children and young adults with myelomeningocele.

Purpose: We determine by ultrasonography the range of dT in carefully treated and followed children with myelomeningocele, and evaluate the role of such measurements for the understanding of bladder abnormalities in these patients.

Materials And Methods: We studied 66 children and young adults with MMC (34 males and 32 females, median age 8.1 years, range 1.

Contrast-medium-Induced nephropathy correlated to the ratio between dose in gram iodine and estimated GFR in ml/min.

Purpose: To suggest a more precise tool when assessing the risk of contrast-medium-induced nephropathy (CIN), i.e. the ratio between contrast medium (CM) dose expressed in grams of iodine (g-I) and estimated glomerular filtration rate in ml/min (eGFR; based on equations using serum-creatinine (s-Cr), weight, height, age, and/or sex), here named I-dose/GFR ratio.

Geographical variation in incidence of prostate cancer in Sweden.

Objective: To investigate the geographical variation in prostate cancer incidence in Sweden, in particular the incidences of screening-detected tumours and curative treatment of prostate cancer.

Material And Methods: Data were retrieved from the National Prostate Cancer Register of Sweden for all cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the year 2000-01. There were a total of 14 376 cases of prostate cancer and the mean total annual age-adjusted incidence was 197/100 000 men.

Evidence for pygmy and giant dipole resonances in 130Sn and 132Sn.

The dipole strength distribution above the one-neutron separation energy was measured in the unstable 130Sn and the double-magic 132Sn isotopes. The results were deduced from Coulomb dissociation of secondary Sn beams with energies around 500 MeV/nucleon, produced by in-flight fission of a primary 238U beam. In addition to the giant dipole resonance, a resonancelike structure ("pygmy resonance") is observed at a lower excitation energy around 10 MeV exhausting a few percent of the isovector E1 energy-weighted sum rule.

Vertebral fractures and separations of endplates after traumatic loading of adolescent porcine spines with experimentally-induced disc degeneration.

Background: Abnormalities of the intervertebral discs have been found in a high frequency among young elite athletes. Several studies have also reported that the adolescent spine, especially the vertebral growth zones, is vulnerable to trauma. However, there is incomplete knowledge regarding the injury mechanism of the growing spine.

Simultaneous measurement of beta- decay to bound and continuum electron states.

We report the first measurement of a ratio lambda(beta(b))/lambda(beta(c)) of bound-state ((lambda(beta(b))) and continuum-state (lambda(beta(c))) beta(-)-decay rates for the case of bare 207Tl81+ ions. These ions were produced at the GSI fragment separator FRS by projectile fragmentation of a 208Pb beam. After in-flight separation with the Brho-deltaE-Brho method, they were injected into the experimental storage-ring ESR at an energy of 400.

Timed barium esophagogram in the assessment of patients with achalasia: reproducibility and observer variation.

SUMMARY. The timed barium esophagogram (TBE) is a further development of the barium swallow, introducing functional and dynamic dimensions to the assessment. The purpose of our study was to assess the day to day variability of TBE parameters when scored in healthy subjects, in untreated and in previously treated patients with confirmed diagnoses of achalasia and to assess the intra- and interobserver agreement.

The National Prostate Cancer Register in Sweden 1998-2002: trends in incidence, treatment and survival.

Objectives: To provide a descriptive review of the establishment of the National Prostate Cancer Register (NPCR) in Sweden, to present clinical characteristics at diagnosis and to calculate the relative survival of different risk groups after 5 years.

Material And Methods: Since 1998, data on all newly diagnosed prostate cancers, including TNM classification, grade of malignancy, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and treatment, have been prospectively collected. For the 35,223 patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2002, relative survival in different risk groups has been calculated.

Expression of the CD44 receptor in the blood vessel system: an experimental study in rat.

The CD44 receptor is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on a variety of cells like endothelial, epithelial and smooth muscle cells. This molecule has many important functions, e.g.

Differential protein expression in anatomical zones of the prostate.

The prostate has three anatomical zones: the peripheral (PZ), the transition (TZ), and the central (CZ) zone. It is proposed that the CZ may be of mesodermal origin, whereas the other two are of endodermal origin. Proteome patterns in the zones were characterized to test for differences.

MRI combined with MR cholangiopancreatography versus helical CT in the evaluation of patients with suspected periampullary tumors: a prospective comparative study.

Purpose: To establish the diagnostic accuracy of MRI including MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) compared with helical CT in the differentiation of malignant and benign lesions in the periampullary region.

Material And Methods: Fifty-one patients (27 M, 24 F, mean age 66 years, range 39-86 years) with obstructive jaundice and sonographic evidence of intra- and extrahepatic bile duct dilatation (n=31) or suspicion of periampullary tumor, based on previously performed ultrasound and/or CT examination (n=20), were studied. MRI with MRCP and helical CT were reviewed blindly under standardized conditions.

Fracture patterns of the adolescent porcine spine: an experimental loading study in bending-compression.

Study Design: To expose functional spinal units from adolescent porcine to mechanical flexion-compression and extension-compression to failure. The biomechanical, radiologic, magnetic resonance imaging, and histologic characteristics are described.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the fracture pattern of functional spinal units from adolescent porcine lumbar spines in in vitro compression loading and bending.

Health-related quality of life in men after treatment of localized prostate cancer with external beam radiotherapy combined with (192)ir brachytherapy: a prospective study of 93 cases using the EORTC questionnaires QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25.

Purpose: To describe prospectively the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and treatment-related symptoms in patients with localized prostate cancer treated with neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy and radical radiotherapy (RT), including external beam RT and iridium high-dose-rate brachytherapy, and to compare them with age-matched normative data.

Methods And Materials: A total of 93 patients with T1-T3a tumors consecutively treated with definitive RT at our institution completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 and QLQ-prostate specific 25-item (PR25) module twice at an 18-month interval 0-18 months after RT. Subgroups were analyzed regarding acute and late effects on symptoms and quality of life.

A phase I trial of DNA vaccination with a plasmid expressing prostate-specific antigen in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a serine protease secreted at low levels by normal luminal epithelial cells of the prostate and in significantly higher levels by prostate cancer cells. Therefore, PSA is a potential target for various immunotherapeutical approaches against prostate cancer. DNA vaccination has been investigated as immunotherapy for infectious diseases in patients and for specific treatment of cancer in certain animal models.

Extracolonic and incidental findings on CT colonography (virtual colonoscopy).

Objective: The objective of our study was to prospectively determine the frequency and clinical importance of extracolonic findings on CT colonography in symptomatic patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. One hundred eleven symptomatic patients referred for colonoscopy underwent CT colonography before colonoscopy.

Non-systematic screening for prostate cancer in Sweden--survey from the National Prostate Cancer Registry.

Objective: The large increase in the incidence of prostate cancer is largely due to testing of serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Little is known about how PSA testing is used in clinical practice outside of screening programmes. Essentially, PSA can be used in the health check-ups of men without symptoms as a form of non-systematic screening or in the work-up of symptomatic patients.

Medical imaging for improved tumour characterization, delineation and treatment verification.

In an investigation by the Swedish Cancer Society, the present status, critical issues and future aspects and potentials were described by an expert group for each of nine major areas of radiation therapy research. This report deals with medical imaging for improved medical diagnosis including tumour detection, staging and characterization, treatment planning, guiding and verification, evaluation of response and treatment follow-up.

Swedish Cancer Society radiation therapy research investigation.

In an investigation by the Swedish Cancer Society, the present status, critical issues and future aspects and prospects were described by an expert group for each of nine major areas of radiation research. A summary of the investigation is presented in this report. A more extensive summary (in Swedish) can be found at www.

The t+n+n system and 5H.

The one-proton knockout channel from 6He (240 MeV/u) impinging on a carbon target has been investigated. The triton fragments originating from this channel were detected in coincidence with the two neutrons. A broad structure, peaked at 3 MeV above the t+2n threshold, is observed in the t+n+n-relative energy spectrum.